Forbidden
by paper-princess-94
Summary: After Toushiro first met Karin he couldn't get her out of his mind, but what will happen when they meet again four years later?
1. Chapter 1

**HitsuKarin Forbidden Chapter 1**

* * *

Chapter 1

Karin watched, awestruck, as the hollow which had towered above her just moments ago shattered, chips of ice raining down around her. But she didn't notice. Her entire focus was on the figure before her, he seemed older than before, as though the change in his appearance had brought out another side of him.

She knew that to anyone else he would have been terrifying, but as he reached his hand down to her, nothing but concern in his eyes, she knew she had no reason to fear him. He was just another boy, it didn't matter that he was a shinigami, or that he could kill her with just one cut of his sword.

Because she knew that he couldn't.

She had gotten to know him; she knew that his heart, his soul, wouldn't let him harm her. He was too good to do something like that. He would never harm an innocent.

She grasped his hand gratefully and he pulled her up gently as she looked over to her friends, who were just starting to wake up. "Don't worry" said Toushiro quietly, his hand still holding hers, "They'll be fine, just a little confused." He smiled down at her, then frowned.

She was shaking, tiny tremors running through her body, he could feel them through the hand still clasping his so tightly. She looked up at him and he could see tears beginning to pool at the corners of her eyes. His ice-blue eyes softened at the sight of her moist violet ones and by the time the first sob had broken he had already pulled her into a tight embrace. He stroked her back as she cried mutely into her shoulder, still shaking like a leaf.

After a couple of minutes she pulled away slowly, her eyes puffy from her silent tears, and looked up at him. He looked back, the question in his eyes silently begging to be answered. "I'm fine," She confirmed, Toushiro let out a visible sigh of relief, "It's just that I'm worried about Ichi-nii. I mean, I know he gets into fights, I've even seen him fight hollows before, but that moment when I thought I was alone fighting that thing..." She shook her head, as though to clear the thought away, "It was one of the most frightening things ever. And Ichigo's probably fighting things which are so much stronger than that, he must be so scared."

She looked into the captain's eyes, looking for reassurance, hoping for him to say she was wrong, that Ichigo just fought the small-fry, that he was safe. But he refused to give her false hope, he didn't want to lie to her. So he told her the truth.

"Karin, your brother fights some of the strongest opponents there are, he will fight anyone who stands against him and on several occasions his actions have changed the fate of soul society." He saw her face begin to drop and caught her hand in his before continuing. "I'm not finished yet. But, because of all of that he is considered one of the strongest shinigami currently alive, almost definitely the strongest non-captain-class and has even defeated several of the captains." He smiled down at her, "Don't worry, he's strong. And even more importantly, he's your brother. You share the same spirit, neither of you will go down without a fight, so if you want him to live, don't stop fighting," He squeezed her hand once more then let go, his fingers trailing along hers, "and whatever you do, don't die." Then he turned and started to walk away.

"Wait, Toushiro!" Karin shouted to him, he turned and looked at her, one eyebrow raised inquisitively, "Will I see you again?" She asked so quietly he could barely hear her. He smiled in response

"We'll meet again, at some point," He gave her one of his rare grins, his face lighting up for just a moment before he turned away and carried on walking. He didn't look back but Karin could've sworn that she heard him say "and I'll look forward to that day, Karin" softly into the wind.

She turned away from his retreating figure to check on her friends, who still lay on the floor only half-conscious, so she missed the second when he turned back for one last glimpse of the girl who had managed to grab his affection in such a short time.

He chuckled quietly, "We'll have to keep an eye on her, Matsumoto, she could become something great." His Lieutenant stepped out of the shadows, where she had been observing her Captains actions.

"Whatever you say, Captain, you just want an excuse to be around her more." She giggled, before slumping slightly, "Now, can we go home please? I'm hungry and I want a bath." She pouted.

"Fine, come on then." Matsumoto set off, her speed making her almost invisible as she ran in the direction of home. Toushiro took in one last look of Karin, making sure to remember it, he didn't know how long it would be before he saw her again, before setting off at his own run, easily catching up to his second-in-command before they headed back together.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

* * *

4 years later

Karin stormed through the front door, tossing her bag to the floor as she dropped unceremoniously onto the couch. She glared angrily at the orange haired man who sat across from her, looking distracted as he watched the people walking outside their window.

"Waiting for someone?" she asked innocently, despite knowing perfectly well who he was looking for so diligently, as though his life depended on it.

He turned away from the window, but she could tell he was still watching out of the corner of his eye.

"Um, yeah," He answered, almost nervously "Rukia's coming round, it's the last time before, you know…" He trailed off, but Karin knew exactly what he was talking about. He was leaving the living world, going to live in soul society full time. He was leaving her.

Of course she understood why he had to leave, there were very few captain class shinigami left and they needed him. If anyone asked how she felt of course she would tell them about how proud they all were, she wouldn't let them see how upset she really felt, how she felt she was being abandoned. The only person who knew that was Yuzu, and that hadn't been Karin's choice, when you spent as much time together as they did you could just tell things about each other.

They had about one more week, although Rukia had warned them that he may need to leave earlier, depending on the situation in Soul society. It wasn't long enough; Karin dreaded the day Ichigo would leave. She knew that it wouldn't make too much difference, he already spent half his time there and the other half was mostly spent training or fighting hollows in the real world but she just felt safer knowing that her big brother was there, ready to save her if anything came after her.

She didn't trust the shinigami they'd sent to protect Karakura town, he seemed weak, probably just a new graduate from the academy they'd had to find a post for. The real protection for the hollow hotspot she called home was in the form of Ichigo's friends and family, those few who had enough spiritual power of their own to be able to see the monsters who tried to destroy the souls of their town on a regular basis.

She couldn't help but feel useless when she compared her own powers to those of Ishida, Sado and even Inoue. They could all fight off hollows pretty much single-handedly, she could only hold one off until back-up turned up, usually Ichigo, or occasionally defeat one with help from Jinta and Ururu. But she had to get stronger, she had to train.

"I thought you had kick-boxing with Tatsuki today." Ichigo's words snapped her out of her inner thoughts, the frown returned to her face, but this time there was also worry in her violet eyes.

"Her mum's still ill, she had to cancel so she could look after her…" She trailed off, her eyes dropped from Ichigo's face and instead focused on her shoes. Tatsuki had always been kind to her, offering her private lessons when she found out that the reason she wanted to become stronger was to fight hollows, being like an older sister to her when she needed a more mature female perspective on things. She didn't want to see her get hurt.

Ichigo's hand touched her shoulder, resting there reassuringly as her spoke, "Karin, don't worry, she'll be fine. Any woman who could raise Tatsuki must be incredibly strong, she won't go down that easily. And Tatsuki's strong too, she can handle whatever the world throws at her. Just like you." He smiled at her sadly. "Once I'm gone I want you to be more careful when you go out picking fights with hollows, I won't be there to help you." She looked at him, surprise in her eyes, "Of course I knew you were going out trying to find hollows, did you think I wouldn't realise?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "I just wanted to feel useful…"

Ichigo pulled her into a tight hug, "I know, I know, I just don't want you getting hurt, Karin."

"Sorry Ichigo, I won't do it again." She murmured sadly, she'd miss fighting, she liked the rush of adrenaline she got from fighting life-or-death against the hollows.

He pulled back from the hug and looked her in the eyes, "Now, I never said that, I just said I didn't want you getting hurt," He said with a laugh, "So you can keep fighting," A smile lit her lips, "On one condition."

"Of course…" She answered, exasperated. "So what's the condition?"

A grin split his face as he answered, "You can keep fighting, as long as you train with Urahara every day after school."

She smiled back at him, "That's it? I just have to do more training? No problem!" She laughed happily "When do I start?"

"Tomorrow, after school, but I've got to warn you, his training methods are a bit…" He was interrupted by a knock at the door. He jumped up from where he had been kneeling in front of her seat and rushed to the door, opening it to reveal the petite shinigami, dressed in a cute light-blue dress and matching shoes. She smiled at the orange haired man before her and just had time to call a greeting to Karin before she was dragged upstairs. Karin heard the sound of a door slamming several seconds later.

"Hmm, I wonder if something's going on between those two…" She mumbled to herself as she got up to collect her bag, then headed upstairs herself to do the stack of homework she'd been given that day.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

* * *

Karin left school with a smile on her face that afternoon, today she would begin her training, then she would be able to look after herself, she wouldn't need anyone else to take care of her. As she passed through the gates she turned towards home, she planned to drop off her bag and then head straight over to Urahara's, but when she reached the front door she had a feeling that something was going to happen. So instead of leaving as soon as she had put her bag away she sunk down into her favourite spot on the couch. And waited.

Ten minutes later she heard a pounding on the door, she jumped up and ran to answer it, she could feel the importance behind that knock. As she opened the door Rukia practically tumbled through the door, "Karin! Where's Ichigo? There's an emergency and he's not answering his phone!"

Karin and Rukia searched the house desperately but neither of them found any sign of Ichigo having been home for hours. Rukia paced the front room restlessly whilst Karin sat thoughtfully on the couch.

"Where could he have gone?" She mused to herself "He's always home when I get back from school, unless he's out with Rukia." Then something clicked in her mind.

"Rukia!" The small woman whipped around, her face hopeful, "What was the emergency you were speaking about?" Karin asked, hoping that her hunch was correct.

"All of the Senkaimon gates have shut themselves down, and the hollow trackers are acting strange, they say there are hundreds of hollow but they never stay for more than a couple of seconds, it's impossible to track them like this!" Rukia seemed flustered, her voice growing higher and louder as she told the younger girl what had happened.

"Hmm, Ichigo's probably out there fighting then, but if there's that many he may have some problems, especially since we can't expect reinforcements with the Senkaimon gates all shut." Karin reasoned, trying to keep a cool head despite the feeling of panic beginning to rise in her chest. She had a desperate need to go and help her brother, but she knew that she alone wouldn't make much of a difference, they had to find more people who could fight.

"We need more people to help us find Ichigo and fight the hollows, I think we should go to Urahara's, then we'd be more than doubling our numbers and our chances of finding Ichigo." Karin explained quickly, rushing to the door to check whether the coast was clear of hollows.

"That makes sense." Rukia answered, following Karin out of the door at her signal. "But what about Orihime, Sado and Ishida? Shouldn't we at least warn them about the hundreds of hollows currently roaming Karakura town?"

Karin shook her head, "There's no need. Ishida is out of town, training with his father. Orihime's staying round at Tatsuki's house to help her look after her mum, so it's probably better not to disturb them. And Sado's running some errands for Urahara in the next town over."  
Rukia looked stunned, "How did you know all that?"

"Ichigo was complaining about how boring it was around here with no-one to talk to, he's such a baby." She smirked at the memory of her older, captain level shinigami, brother flouncing into her room several days before and collapsing on her bed with a moan of boredom.

She snapped herself out of her daydream, now was no time to get distracted. Ichigo could be in serious trouble. "Rukia, how're things on the Hollow front?"  
Rukia shook her head discouragingly, "Looks like there are just as many, and they're getting stronger."

Karin's head snapped up to look at the petite woman in the shinigami robes. "What did you say, they're getting stronger? How is that possible?"

"It looks as though someone, or something, is probing our defences, seeing how much we can handle before we crumble under the pressure." She chewed her lip nervously as she looked down at the tracker's screen. "We need to pick up the pace if we want to make any difference whatsoever."

And with that she pulled the taller girl awkwardly onto her back and used shunpo to get them to Urahara's store in less than thirty seconds. She dropped Karin unceremoniously onto the ground and, although she'd never admit it, Karin preferred it there than on the back of the much smaller woman travelling at death-defying speeds across rooftops.

Rukia rushed over to the fallen teenager and pulled her up gently, "Sorry about that, I'm not used to carrying other people, I'm not really built for it." She added jestingly, gesturing to her tiny frame.

"Anyway, we should get inside and tell them about what is happening."

Karin just nodded in affirmation before rushing through the door of the shop, only to be greeted by an angry Jinta wielding a broom. "You're late, you were supposed to come straight from school. Where were you?" He asked, jabbing her in the face with the bristled end of the broom.

"No time to talk, where's Urahara? We need to talk to him." She asked desperately.

"Well, I don't know whether I should seeing as how you were so late and then continued to act so rudely towards me." He yelped as she grabbed the front of his t-shirt and dragged him towards her so that they were face-to-face.

"Jinta, I won't say this again," She hissed angrily, "This is an emergency, now tell me where Urahara is or you're the one we're going to send out to fight the hundreds of hollows which are currently gathering in Karakura town."

He gulped and nodded once. "Umm…" he cleared his throat, "He's in the training room."  
Karin dropped him and nodded her thanks before stepping past him a climbing down the ladder which led to the large underground training room followed by a flustered Rukia. As they dropped to the ground Rukia scurried to catch up with the taller girl, "Was that really necessary? I'm sure he would have told you if you'd just asked nicely."

"No, he wouldn't have. Jinta is stubborn and would never respond to 'asking nicely'." She took in one long, sweeping look of the training room before her eyes focused on a figure sat beneath a large slab of overhanging rock, a hat and a cane resting beside him.

"There he is." She murmured under her breath before breaking into a light jog. She reached him in less than a minute, and after a few moments wait he looked up at her through his shaggy, light-blonde hair, his grey eyes half hidden, and just looked at her.

The examination lasted just a few seconds before he jumped to his feet, cane in hand and hat on head, "I see that whatever reason you have for being late is a good one to have you so on edge, I'll let it slide this time, I suppose." He looked across at Rukia and smiled, "Now, let's go upstairs and you can tell me what's happening."

They didn't even make it to the ladder before Rukia had finished the tale and asked Urahara for his assistance in protecting Karakura town and finding Ichigo. After hearing the entire story Urahara looked considerably more concerned than before, his usually relaxed face had a slight crease across the forehead, as though he was thinking particularly hard.

"Ok then, you take Jinta and Ururu with you, but don't split up or you'll be in even more danger. I'll stay here and try to get the Senkaimon gate up and working so that we can get some reinforcements out to help you. It may be that they've shut off the gates only from the soul society side. We might be able to open one with some slight adjustments." He motioned for them to climb up the ladder as he turned towards the gate. "Good luck, and keep an eye out for Yoruichi, she might be somewhere in the town and she would be a very helpful ally against the hollow." With that he turned away for good and began walking towards the gate as they climbed the ladder at a speed Karin hadn't imagined was possible.

* * *

IN SOUL SOCIETY-10TH DEVISION CAPTAIN'S OFFICE

Matsumoto sat at her desk, looking across at her captain, who was staring absently out of the window. "Captain, there's nothing you can do until the gates are working, so just relax, ok?"

"No, she's in trouble, I can tell. I have to go help her."

The lieutenant sighed in exasperation as she watched the teenage captain pacing around the office.

"At least sit down, have some tea to calm your nerves." She offered.

"No, I can't. I have to get to her. If I wait it'll be too late, I can feel it." With that he left the room, probably to go and wait beside the gate for when they started working again.

Matsumoto sighed again, "teenagers" she scoffed before following him out of the office, leaving behind her a large pile of paperwork.

* * *

When they reached the top Jinta and Ururu were already waiting for them. Karin looked at them questioningly. "From what you said earlier I guessed you were here to ask for reinforcements. So here we are, ready to go. Now are we gonna go fight the hollows or are you just gonna stand there and stare?" He asked teasingly. All that meant to Karin was that she didn't have to feel guilty for what she did next, which was to drag him out of the store by his earlobe, with him protesting the entire way.

"If you're gonna be rude you're going to be punished." She taunted as she let go of his ear. She ignored his arguments and name calling and instead looked around the nearby area. She couldn't see any hollow so she turned to Rukia, who still held her tracker in her hands. "Are there any nearby, Rukia?"

The smaller woman shook her head, "The closest ones are…" She trailed off, trying to make sense of the hundreds of dots surrounding the small triangle which represented them. "Umm… the closest ones are," She pointed east, towards the park, "That way."

The three younger teenagers nodded and followed her lead, jogging single file down the pavement towards the park. When they arrived they were surprised to see the large, open area completely deserted by the humans that usually regulated it. Then they saw why, the entire forested area of the large park was filled with Hollow, at least fifty pair of eyes stared out at them from between the foliage.

"So perhaps this wasn't a good idea," Murmured Jinta as he pulled out his bat, Rukia and Ururu also readying their weapons. Karin suddenly realised that she was the only one who was practically unarmed, and also how completely insane it was to try and go up against this many hollows with only her feet for weapons. She had just about accepted that she probably wouldn't last the fight when she heard someone clear their throat behind her. She turned around to see Ururu standing there holding a long package.

"What's that Ururu?" She asked, intrigued. She reached out for the package and the other girl placed it gently in her hands.

"It's a present from Urahara, It was supposed to be for starting your training but he said that you would probably need it today, so we brought it along." The raven-haired girl offered Karin one of her rare smiles as she watched her open the package to reveal a long, dark-bladed sword with a simple yet beautiful design on the hilt.

Karin smiled at the sight of the sword, there was something about it which fit her, she lifted it gently off of the paper it had been wrapped in and gave it a few practice swings. It was as though she already knew what to do with it. Rukia smiled, she wouldn't have to worry about Karin now, she could tell from the way she held the sword loose in her grip, her relaxed stance which would still allow her to attack or block at any moment.

"Looks like you're ready just in time, Kurosaki" Jinta spoke excitedly, geared up for the coming battle, "because here they come." And with that the Hollows attacked, Karin lost sight of the others within the first few moments, and then she was lost in a crowd of flailing limbs tipped with claws and mouths filled with sharp teeth, ready to bite her if she gave them the smallest chance.

She kept them off of her with her blade, keeping a wide circle around her clear where only the stupidest of the hollows dared to step. After ten minutes of fighting Karin was beginning to see a slight thinning in the amount of hollow which surrounded her. Now only the smartest and the strongest remained.

In the few seconds lull in the flow of enemies she checked herself for injuries, and was glad to find that she only had minor scrapes and cuts on her arms where a few of the hollow had managed to get in lucky hits. She sighed as she saw the next opponent step up before her then she shook her head in surprise, there was something different about this one. It was the way he held himself, more human than the others she had fought, more powerful.

She just had time to draw in a breath to shout for help when the first blow fell, she just got her sword up in time, but the amount of force behind it made her feel as though she had taken a direct hit to her arm. She gasped at the shock of it. So far all of the hollow had been weak, easily defeated in one or two hits. This one would be different.

He looked down at her, his intelligent eyes meeting hers. She gasped again in surprise, it was almost like looking at a human being, but the eyes were focused on just one thing, blood, murder and despair. Then he swung his arm at her again, this time aiming for her head.

She ducked just in time, it was close enough that she felt the breeze caused by his huge arm caressing her hair. She couldn't risk him hitting her, one bad hit from those arms could kill her.  
So she swung her sword at his head, putting all her strength behind the blade she squeezed her eyes shut, mentally begging it to hit him, to save her. She felt the jarring of an impact and quickly opened her eyes, hoping to see the hollow gone.

What she saw was much worse than her worst nightmare.

The hollow had caught the blade in one hand, it hadn't even cut his palm. Now he smirked down at her, obviously eager to kill her, to have the murderous fun that he had been looking forward to all this time. "Bad luck, little girl. I guess this is game over for you then." He spoke slowly and sluggishly, but Karin did recognize the words.

She was too shocked to respond. Hollow didn't speak, it just didn't happen. So why was it happening now. She cried out in pain as the hollow latched one of his huge hands around hers and squeezed until she released her sword. She looked down at her hand, dazed, and noted in some small part of her brain, which was not occupied by the gut-wrenching fear she felt, that at least two of her fingers were noticeably broken and her thumb was also bent at a worrying angle. She gulped down a scream as she felt the huge hollow towering over her again.

The riatsu she felt from him was so dark it made her want to run away and hide, there was so much power behind him that she felt like the air was thickening around her even as she stood there. It got to a point where her legs could no longer support her and she fell to her knees before him. He sneered down at her then wrapped one of the gigantic hands through her hair and lifted her clear off the ground, until they were face to face.

He leered at her and, reaching up his other hand ran one thick finger down the side of her face. "It really is a shame I have to kill you, you're such a pretty little thing." His eyes lit up mischievously and he leaned in closer so that their noses almost touched. "I know what I'll do, I'll wait until you're dead and then I'll collect your soul and take it back with me. You'll keep your current form for a while and then when you become a hollow you can become part of my army. What d'ya say?"

She gulped down her revulsion for a moment to gather all her remaining strength, if she was going to die then she was going out swinging, no matter how big or small that swing was. "What do I say?" She asked back sweetly. She turned her face into the hand which still caressed her cheek roughly. She moved her head until she could grasp one of the fingers in-between her lips. She looked up at him alluringly, watching his eyes, waiting for just the right moment.

Now!

She bit down as hard as she could, choking back her need to gag she dug her teeth in as deep as she could. Through ears weakened by exhaustion and pain she heard the hollow curse loudly, but he still didn't drop her as she'd hoped he would. So she unlatched her teeth and spat full in his face.

"That's what I say to you."

He growled angrily at her, she could feel him physically shaking with rage. "You useless trash!" He shouted slapping her hard across the face. She saw stars for a few moments, and the next thing she knew she was flying through the air. She must have been dreaming, or dead, because she thought she heard someone shout her name. It sounded strangely familiar.

Then she hit the tree at full force. She felt her shoulder dislocate as she hit the wood, then as she slid to the ground she saw a white flash run across her sight.

"So this is what it's like to die" She thought peacefully, "It's not too bad, I suppose…"

In the distance she felt a huge thump, through her blurry vision she watched a giant form fall to the floor, the white flash standing before it. Then it was beside her, and she could make out a face. She recognized it, though it had matured a lot in four years, now he almost looked like a man, instead of a kid.

"Karin…" He murmured miserably, "I'm sorry I got here so late, this is all my fault."

"Don't be stupid, you weren't even in the same world as me, how were you supposed to know." Karin was surprised to hear how weak she sounded.

"No, if I'd gotten here sooner you'd be ok, it IS all my fault."

"Whatever, Toushiro. I'm just gonna take a little nap…" she trailed off as she slipped into unconsciousness.

"Just get better Karin, make sure you get better." He whispered to her, stroking her hair comfortingly as she slept.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

* * *

Karin drifted between the comfortingly painless world of unconsciousness and the real world, where her entire body screamed incessantly at the pain, to a point where her mind would just shut down, allowing only the barest amount of information to squeeze through from her senses. She never smelt a single thing, and her eyes refused to open to allow her an idea of her surroundings. But every time she fell into the terrible pit of despair and agony which was her real world she felt a presence which was more comforting than any amount of medicine or healing ever could be.

The feeling of him was like a soothing ice-pack on her soul, he was always there, an ever-present guardian. And although her senses had shut down she could still smell the subtle scent of watermelon and winter days, she could hear the stern but caring tone he had used as a child, and she could see the spiky white hair, one strand falling across his face. She could see the deep, caring eyes, the most amazing shade of turquoise she had ever seen.

She would never admit it to him, but Karin thought that if it hadn't been for his presence she would have probably given up. She reached a point when she no longer remembered her friends, her family, or even her own identity. She no longer knew who the presence was, but she could feel its intentions, they were desperate and caring, and thoughts of healing and recovery were almost constant. That was what pulled her pain-dazed mind through and gave her the strength to recover; the knowledge that there was someone who cared for her that much, someone who stayed by her side practically twenty-four-seven.

And so, almost four days after being injured, Karin woke up.

* * *

For the first time in so long, Karin could feel something other than pain. It was still there, but it was muted, hidden behind the joy of being able to hear, smell and feel again. And something else. She gingerly opened her eyes, squinting at the sudden light which hit her face. She groaned gently at the intrusion and waited impatiently for her eyes to readjust. When they did, she couldn't help the little yelp which escaped her throat.

Urahara leant over her, his face mere inches from hers. She tried to reach up to push him away, but found that she didn't have the strength to even lift her arm off of the sheet where it lay beside her.

He smiled kindly at her and moved away slightly, sitting down beside her, legs crossed. "Don't move, your body isn't ready yet, give it an hour or so before you try to sit up." He grinned at her boyishly. "I'm glad you woke up, now I've got proof that you're improving." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Perhaps all your visitors will stop pestering me now…"

"Wait, slow down…" Karin paused, surprised at the weakness of her voice, it was barely a whisper and even that made her throat sore and her jaw ache painfully. She regained control of herself and continued, "How long was I asleep? How badly injured was I!" She exclaimed as loudly as possible, trying to sound intimidating, but only succeeded in hurting her throat and making herself have a coughing fit.

When she recovered she glanced up to see a smug looking Urahara watching her. But she noticed something. In his eyes was something she'd never seen there before. Concern.

He was worried about her, which meant it must have been really serious. "How badly hurt was I?" She asked quietly, her voice husky from her recent coughing fit. He lowered his head in defeat. 'He didn't want to tell me' she thought to herself. 'Why? Could it really be that bad?' The only real injury she could remember getting was her shoulder when she hit the tree.

"Karin," He spoke softly, his voice soothing and resigned. "You've been unconscious for four days, and you almost died three times." He paused, letting the information sink in before he continued. "You left the fight with a badly dislocated shoulder, a broken humerous, a fractured jaw, several broken or fractured ribs and a cracked vertebrae. Once we got you back here we found that you also had a punctured lung."

He looked down at her, their eyes meeting as he continued, "But, believe it or not, you were lucky."

She hissed in surprise, "Lucky? How exactly is that lucky?"

"You were lucky you hit that tree with your shoulder, if it had been your neck, with the speed you were travelling at you would have had about a 5% chance of survival." He sighed at the idea, his eyes sad at the thought as he averted his eyes from hers, "and even then there would have been no way of getting through it without serious injury, almost definitely resulting in a life-long disability."

"Ok, I was very lucky," she croaked, feeling suddenly thankful for the instinct which had told her to twist her body in the air to change her area of impact.

"And, you were lucky Captain Hitsugaya got there when he did, if he hadn't then…"

"My god, Toushiro!" She interrupted him, sitting up suddenly before falling back with a hiss of pain, unconscious once again. Urahara shook his head and waited for her to wake up again, watching her for signs of new injuries caused by the sudden movement. Eventually her eyelids fluttered open again, there was more pain there than before, but it was obviously bearable from the way she looked at him, her eyes full of questions.

"Now, what have you learned about listening to me?" He asked sarcastically.

"Whatever, where's Toushiro? I need to talk to him…" She trailed off, her eyes wandering around the half of the room, searching for that distinctive head of white hair.

"He's over there, asleep." Urahara responded, waving his hand in the direction of the wall behind Karin's head. "He's been awake almost nonstop since the fight. He's exhausted."

Karin yawned, "I'm tired, and I don't want to wake him if he's been awake that long." She said softly, her eyelids beginning to droop.

Urahara nodded, "Don't worry, I'll tell him you were awake." Then, in a rare show of tenderness he gently stroked her hair as she drifted off to the first truly peaceful sleep she had had in over four days. He stood up silently and tiptoed to the door, sliding it shut slowly so as not to wake the two sleeping forms within the room.

As he turned away he smiled to himself, 'She's gonna be just fine, she's strong and wilful. She truly wants to live.' He thought to himself as he walked down the hallway. 'And she's got him.' His smile turned into a cheeky smirk at the memory of the captain refusing to leave her for even a moment. How he'd stayed by her side from the moment she'd hit that tree. 'Yeah, she's gonna be just fine.'


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

… = thoughts

"…" = speaking

* * *

When Toushiro woke up the first thing he did was check Karin. He was relieved to see the steady rise and fall of her chest, as opposed to the stuttering, broken breaths which she had been surviving on until so recently. In fact, she looked a lot better in just about every way possible, her fever was down, her colour had returned and she no longer held her arm tensely, instead letting it rest lightly on the bed covers beside her.

He was fascinated by her face, all the ways it had changed over the past four years. The tiny details that made all the difference, the way that her eyes turned ever-so-slightly up at the corners, the barely visible spattering of freckles across her cheekbones and the way that, even in sleep, her lips were twisted into the smallest of smiles. Her ebony hair, previously cut quite short, now fell to just below her shoulders. At the moment it was fanned out around the girl's head, surrounding her like a dark halo. Toushiro could definitely see her as an angel; her face was all gracefully curved angles, hints of arrogance and superiority nullified by the soft kindness obvious around her mouth and the laugh-lines around her eyes.

He continued watching her, unable to tear his eyes away from the face he had thought he would never see again, so tempted to reach out and touch her. To make sure she was real, not a dream.

His hand was just lifting from where it rested on his leg when he froze. Her eyes had flickered open, just for a moment. She was waking up. He watched as her eyes opened again, closing seconds after, trying to adjust to the bright sunlight shining through the window on the other side of the room.

After a few more attempts she managed to get her eyes to focus on the ceiling above her, she glanced around the small amount of room she could see without moving too much. At first her mind didn't even recognise that he was there, seeming to just skip over the entire area he occupied.

But suddenly it clicked into place, and she would have sat up in surprise again had it not been for her still aching ribs, she turned her head to face him, looking at him properly for the first time in four years. So, in a state of near shock, her still recovering brain jumped to its failsafe option, sarcasm.

"You know," She mumbled quietly, her voice still little more than a whisper, "Most girls would be creeped out if they woke up to find some random guy staring at them." She chuckled darkly at the stricken expression on his face, and then felt bad almost instantly. She didn't want to upset him after he spent all that time looking after her, after he saved her life.

She reached up slowly, using reserves of strength she didn't realise she had left, and gently touched his cheek. He jolted backwards at her touch, as though she had just shocked him, and for a moment it looked as though he was about to bolt for the door . But he stayed with her, she smiled at him weakly.

"But you're not just some random guy…" She trailed off, unsure if she'd overstepped the boundary, but there was just something about this older Toushiro that made her act unreasonably.

She relaxed as he returned her smile, reaching up to his own face to retrieve her hand which he held in his lap, stroking it carefully as though it were made of glass and could shatter at any moment. He kept his eyes locked on her hand as he spoke, almost inaudibly, his reply.

"Well," He started, "you're not exactly most girls, are you?" He looked up, right into her eyes. Oh my god, he's so perfect Karin thought furiously to herself. "I mean, what normal girl would attack a huge crowd of hollow with no prior training or experience. That was really stupid Karin…" He looked annoyed as he trailed off, his eyes averting from hers.

So much for the romantic moment She thought angrily He was just getting ready to make me feel even worse… He looked back at her but she looked away, pulling her hand back to her side, fully set on ignoring whatever else he had to say. But it was as though he had read her thoughts just a moment ago as he began to speak, his voice practically dripping with regret over having upset her.

"Karin… sorry," He apologised, his voice only just reaching her ears, it was so quiet that she had to strain herself to hear him. "I didn't mean to upset you or make you feel bad, it's just…" He paused, as though he had to prepare himself for his following words, "It's just… it hurt, to see you like that." He stopped to look at her as she turned back around, their eyes catching each other again as he admitted the one thing he had promised himself he never would.

"I was scared, Karin."

She smiled at him encouragingly as he soldiered on through his confession. "I know it sounds stupid, since we don't even really know each other, but when I saw you like that…" He trailed off again, standing up and moving to the other side of the room. He stood facing away from her, his forehead pressed against the wall. He knew he would have to say it, but he couldn't face her when he did. What if she rejected him? He would never be able to talk to her again.

He built up his courage and blurted it out in one sentence. "Karin, when I saw you like that I didn't think I could last without you in the world!" She still said nothing so he carried on this is it he thought to himself, "Karin, I think I lo…"

"Toushiro, Kiss me." Karin interrupted him, her voice completely flat. It wasn't a request, it was an order.

"But… Why…? What…?" Toushiro stammered, completely stunned, but he still found himself moving back to her bedside.

"I can't get up, I can't reach you." She smiled at him, "So you're just gonna have to come closer on your own, at least close enough for me to…"

The rest of her words were cut off by a pair of soft lips pressed against hers. He seemed unsure at first, ready to pull back at any moment, so she snaked a hand up behind his head, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss.

He seemed to like it.

She laughed, their lips still pressed together as she spoke, "So, what was that you were gonna ask Toushiro?" She asked mischievously.

"'Love you, Karin" He mumbled back to her, one of his hands wrapping around her waist.

"Good," He pulled back for a moment, shocked, thinking he was being used. Her next words changed his mind. "Because I love you too, stupid." She giggled at him before crushing their mouths back together.

* * *

Urahara whistled to himself as he walked down the corridor towards Karin's room, "Time to visit my favourite patient again." He said to himself as he arrived outside her door "of course, she is my only patient so…"

Just then he heard a rustling from inside the room, oh, perhaps she is awake he thought optimistically, whilst hastily opening the door, only to have a large blast of kidou fired directly at his head. Luckily he managed to duck just in time.

"Um, I'll come back later…" He said quickly, before turning around and beating a hasty retreat.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

… = thinking  
"…" = speaking

* * *

As days passed Karin's condition quickly improved, and as her condition improved so did her relationship with Toushiro. She seemed to spend every waking moment in his presence, and when he wasn't there she missed him as though he had been gone for months and years instead of minutes and hours.

But every time she saw him walk through the door of her room it was worth it, just to feel that jump in her chest as her heart beat faster at nothing more than the sight of him. Her head would flood with happy thoughts as he sat by her bed, silent; there was no need for him to speak as he held her small hand between his two larger ones, stroking it soothingly.

They were sat like this one day, Toushiro smiling down at her kindly, when there was a loud bang, a following crash, and then the sound of pounding footsteps drawing swiftly closer towards the room they occupied. The captain jumped to his feet, unconsciously slipping into a defensive position in front of Karin.

The door slammed open, making enough noise to cause the two teens to flinch. When they reopened their eyes they both let out an audible sigh of relief. Karin had never been so relieved to see that crop of spiky orange hair as she was then, then she saw his expression and flinched back again.

He looked ready to kill.

She mentally cursed, he must have found out about us She reasoned as she watched her brother move further into the room, murder in his eyes as he approached the smaller shinigami. He drew to a stop in front of Toushiro, one hand shooting out to grab the front of his shirt, before promptly turning around and marching back out of the room, dragging a non-resistant Toushiro behind him.

Karin watched the two boys leaving the room; then she shrugged and turned over, trying to get back to sleep. He probably wouldn't kill him.

_Probably._

When they reached a safe distance Ichigo slammed the submissive shinigami against the wall, turning to him with dark fire in his eyes as he glared down at him.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked, his words hissing between his teeth as he clenched them tight together. He got no answer as Toushiro just continued to stare down at the ground beneath his feet. "TELL ME!" He shouted, shaking the white-haired boy slightly, "What are you doing? What's going on with you and Karin? Don't you know…?"

He was cut off by Toushiro's anguished whisper, "I know." He looked up at the taller boy and smiled sadly, "I know we can't be together, I just… I can't bear to see her unhappy. I…love her." He made sure to meet the substitute shinigami's eyes when he said it, so that he could see there was no hint of doubt or lie within them.

"Hmm… ok, I believe you. But you still can't be with her, if the captain commander or some of the other captains find out about you two it won't just be _you_ in danger." He had leaned in close to the captain, every inch of his body ready to fight for his little sister. "And if Karin gets hurt because of you, you won't live to say you're sorry."

Ichigo stepped back, giving the other boy some space. "So, what are you gonna do? You haven't got any choice other than to break up with her before you go. If you ask her to wait someone will work it out, any way you look at it she's either going to be angry with you or upset. You're just gonna have to pick which." He patted the boy on the shoulder, before turning to walk away.

"They're calling you back," He spoke softly, his voice drifting back to Toushiro's hunched figure. "You have to be back in Soul Society within two days or they're gonna get really suspicious. That's your limit, don't push it. Do it quick, don't let her get any more attached." Then he turned the corner and was out of Toushiro's sight.

The captain slumped against the wall, his head in his hands as he desperately tried to shrug off the lingering feeling caused by the substitute shinigami's words. Each one had been like a slap in the face as how little time they actually had left together finally sank in. He allowed himself a moment to wallow before pushing away from the wall and beginning his walk back to Karin's room.

As he walked one of his hands rubbed at his face, he insisted to himself it was just an itch but when he moved it away it was distinctively damp.

* * *

Karin looked up as Toushiro re-entered the room, his head down as he sat silently beside her. She reached out, her hand gently brushing his before resting lightly on top of it, her fingers twining around his. He looked up at her and as their eyes met she saw something there that wasn't there before he left.

"Is something wrong Toushiro? You seem a bit…_off_."

It was as though a switch had been flicked; whatever it was that had been making his eyes look so sad was gone, replaced with open adoration. "I'm fine Karin, don't worry about me. Just focus on getting back to 100%"

She nodded, smothering a yawn with one hand as she continued to clutch Toushiro's with the other.

"You're tired. Why don't you go to sleep for a bit?" She nodded again before lying down, still not releasing their entwined hands.

He leant down and placed a chaste kiss lightly on her lips before sitting back on his heels, his hand stayed on top of her head, stroking her dark hair soothingly as her eyelids began to droop. As she finally seemed to have dropped into a deep sleep Toushiro removed his hand, smiling sadly down at her sleeping form.

Sorry, Karin. I don't want to hurt you but this is for the best in the long-run. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, lingering for as long as he dared, relishing her unique smell for what would probably be the last time.

He stood up, moving reluctantly away from his unconscious, unknowing lover, a few unwanted tears pricking his eyes as he watched her shift in her sleep. He drank his final sight of her in, his heart pounding in his chest as he realised he would probably never see her again, never run his hands through that silky, raven-black hair, never hear her sarcastic but sweet voice when he slipped up and said something stupid. He'd never kiss those lips again, the ones which seemed to have been made to fit his own so perfectly. He'd never again feel her melt against him, her warmth and scent enveloping him in a wave of bliss.

These thoughts all rushed at him in quick succession, he hadn't realised how many little things he would miss about her and, feeling overwhelmed, he forced himself to turn around and leave the room, not allowing himself to look back once.

* * *

Light, swift footfalls could be heard moving down the hallway as Karin ran to the main room of the shop, searching as she went. When she reached the room, the last one for her to search, she slammed the door open and looked around, her eyes desperate.

Urahara looked up from his tea, one eyebrow quirked as he watched the young girl searching the room.

"Something you need?" He asked, his voice cutting through her mind as she looked up in shock, she hadn't even realised he was there.

"Umm, yeah. Have you seen Toushiro? I can't find him anywhere…" She trailed off, her eyes beginning to dart nervously around the room again. She'd seen what was out there in the world and, even though she knew he could handle himself, she couldn't stop herself from worrying a little bit.

"Captain Hitsugaya? I believe he was going down to the basement, I don't know why though."

Hmm, probably training then. Karin thought to herself before turning back to Urahara, "Thanks, I'll go see him, then." She was gone before he could reply, the sound of her footsteps echoing down the hallway. He shrugged, taking another sip of his tea, his expression thoughtful.

Karin ran hard, she had a bad feeling about this, something felt wrong. When she reached the trapdoor which led to the basement she pulled it open quickly, starting to climb down the ladder into the huge space beneath the shop.

When she was about a third of the way down she looked around her, searching for Toushiro from this height would help her find him when she reached the ground. Then she saw it, two figures in the distance, one tall and very obviously female, the other smaller, his body hunched over as he stood before the red-haired woman.

That's Toushiro and his lieutenant. But…what are they doing here? Karin thought to herself as she watched the redhead do something which caused a large gate to open before them. Wait! He can't be leaving, if he was leaving he would have said something to me. She paused in her thoughts, frantic at the thought of losing him, He would have said something to me, _wouldn't he_?

As she watched, frozen to the spot, the woman stepped through the gate, seeming to dissolve into the air on the other side.

Toushiro stepped forward to enter as well and her heart skipped a beat. How could he do this to her? How could he leave her after he said he loved her?

By now he was right in front of the gate, one more step would take him over the threshold and he'd be gone. He put his foot forward and it was as though Karin's world slowed down and focused on that one existence in front of her. If he stepped over then it was the end.

"TOUSHIRO!" She heard herself shout distraughtly, her mind still not completely in her body as she watched the foot descend and the head turn simultaneously.

She just caught sight of Toushiro's surprised expression before he too dissolved into the air on the other side of the gate. Karin let out a sob, tears streaming down her cheeks as she stared at the spot where the gate had been.

She knew he wasn't going to come back.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7  
-

… = thinking  
"…" = speaking  
_long uses of italics _= flashbacks

* * *

**4 years later**

Toushiro swung Hyōrinmaru angrily, the blade biting deep into hollow-flesh as he already lined up his next attack. He sighed internally as he rid the world of another three hollows in one swing, was it really necessary for a _captain_ to do basic hollow clean-up. Surely the captain-commander could find someone more suitable for the job.

But he knew it wouldn't make any difference even if he did go and complain. It had been the same for the past four years, never being allowed to go on any challenging missions, kept away from anything mildly interesting.

He knew why.

And, perhaps even more irritating, the old-man _knew_ that he knew. And he still refused to give in.

Toushiro knew that he had made a mistake, but he wouldn't make that mistake again if he was just given the chance to prove it. But it didn't seem like he would get that chance anytime soon.

* * *

_**4 years earlier**_

_Toushiro stomped through his office doors for the first time in what felt like years, but which had really only been a few weeks at the most. He flopped into his chair, behind his desk, with a huff and scanned the clear space in front of him. He had to admit that he was surprised; he'd been expecting to come back to mounds of unfinished paperwork but instead he had a completely clear desk and not even one sign that Matsumoto had been having wild parties within his office whilst he was away._

_Of course, that didn't mean that there had not _been_ any wild parties, it just meant that she had gained the ability to actually _clean up_ after herself during the time that he was away. _

_Or perhaps she just did it to annoy him. _

_It was as though mere thoughts of the red-headed vice-captain had summoned her, but there was something different about her. Her head hung low, refusing to make eye-contact with the young captain, she seemed almost _meek_. A word Toushiro thought would never be used to describe the energetic and easily excitable woman._

_When she did look up he saw something unfamiliar in her eyes, pity. She felt sorry for him. Of course she was the only one who had seen him after he had been forced to leave Karin, less than a week before. She was the only one he felt close enough to to iallow/i her to see him like that._

_He sighed I was a mess. He thought, grateful that the older woman had been there for him through that time. He didn't think he could have done it without her._

"_What's wrong, Matsumoto?" He asked quietly, half hoping that she was back to her hyper, drunken, crazy ways; now that he was back in soul society he was craving normality like a drug, just wanting to carry on with his life instead of being constantly reminded of what he had had to give up._

"_Um, the captain-commander wants to see you, Captain…" She trailed off, they both knew what this little meeting would be about, and they both knew that it _couldn't_ end well._

_Toushiro pushed away from his desk with a sigh, "well then, I'd better go and see what the old coot wants then." He said, putting on a brave face for his lieutenant's sake as he left the room with his head high. But once he was out of the redhead's sight his body slumped, accepting the heavy weight of the possible consequences of his few weeks of joy with Karin._

_But still he knew that -no matter what his punishment may be for breaking one of Soul Society's most important rules- he would never regret what he had done._

_After a sombre trudge to the first division barracks Toushiro found himself stood before the large doors which lead to the Captain-commander's huge office, his head hanging low as he waited to be granted entry. After a few painful seconds he heard the barely audible sound of assent and pushed the doors open, revealing the bare, empty space, marred only by the wooden desk and grey haired figure which sat at the other end of the room._

"_Captain Hitsugaya." The booming voice from the man behind the desk addressed him. That was a good sign; he was still acknowledging him as a captain which meant he wasn't dismissed completely. "I sincerely hope you have a good reason for disappearing for almost three weeks without informing us of your situation."_

_So that's how you're going to play it, eh, old man? Feint ignorance and force me to explain myself? Nice try, but I won't fall for it. He knew that a lesser man would not realise the older man's knowledge and attempt to blag his way out of it by lying through his teeth. But it wouldn't work; in fact it would only work against him, proving that he had a guilty conscience and should be severely punished. But he wouldn't fall for it; he would tell the truth and just take whatever punishment was doled out to him. It was his own fault after all._

"_I'm sorry, Captain-commander, I'm afraid I don't have any excuse for my behaviour. Please just give me whatever punishment you see fit, I shall not argue." The young captain stood with his head bowed, so he didn't see the fist which sent him flying across the room and crashing into the opposite wall. _

_He looked up as the world seemed to shake around him and his ears rang loudly, and found himself looking into eyes which burnt with an angry flame. The towering figure stood above him, his fists clenched as he watched the smaller man struggle back to his feet, staggering unsteadily. _

"_Don't try that with me, _**little****boy**_! We both know _exactly _where you were!" He saw something shift in the old man's eyes, and for a moment he almost thought he saw shame in those weather-beaten orbs. "Don't lie to me, boy. You know the rules; no shinigami may have a relationship with a human. It's too risky and puts the entire area which the human lives in –plus those around them- in danger." He walked back to his desk and sat with a loud exhale of breath. _

"_And it may not seem it, but this is for your own good too. Imagine having to watch the love of your life grow older and older whilst you would barely seem to age at all. It wouldn't be fair on you _or_ the poor girl. Do you understand, Captain?" _

_Toushiro nodded meekly, he had known all this already and yet he had still allowed himself to get so close to Karin. He didn't know for sure how she felt at that moment, but judging from how awful he felt she must have been feeling just as bad, if not worse. He just wished he'd been able to say goodbye properly, explain his reasons for leaving. But he knew that then she wouldn't have let him go and gotten on with her life. _

"_Yes, Captain-commander, I understand and it won't happen again." He said with a low bow before heading towards the exit._

"_I'm glad to hear it, Captain. You have such a large amount of potential; I would hate to see it go to waste. In fact, I think that you might even be good enough to succeed me, in time." The words which would have regularly caused him to glow in pride sunk into Toushiro's brain like poison; he didn't want to be like the bitter and lonely old man who ruled over soul society from his tower. Only one person would make such an existence bearable, and she was now far out of his reach._

_Toushiro paused in the doorway -considering his answer to the older man's words carefully- before deciding that he really didn't care what the old coot thought of him and leaving the room, shutting the door none-too-softly behind him as he steamed his way back to his office so he could rant to Matsumoto about old men who didn't know how to keep their noses out of other people's personal lives. _

**

* * *

Present day**

Toushiro finished off the last of the hollows with a final swing of Hyōrinmaru, before sliding the blade back into its sheath on his back and began to head back to Soul Society. He would swear that the hollows he had been fighting recently had been getting weaker, this time he hadn't even had to release his sword. Thought perhaps it was that he was getting stronger, he hoped so because then these stupid little missions wouldn't be _completely_ pointless.

As he walked back to the portal leisurely he passed a clear pond, his reflection shining back up at him as the bolt of white-silver hair became apparent and turquoise eyes flashed mischievously after one to many conversations with Matsumoto. His Captain's haori billowed around him as deep green swallowed his lean figure. He was proud to say that he had grown since his younger years, although he was still much closer to five foot than he was to six.

He smiled slightly before setting back off, he wanted to get his paperwork done quickly so he could have some time to do what he actually _wanted_ to do. The light wooden gates were in sight when he saw them beginning to open slightly, just enough to allow the small black butterfly to float through before they closed once again.

Toushiro had to stifle a sigh. Of course he couldn't have any time to himself, that would be pleasant, and he was by now pretty sure that the Captain-commander had set out to cause him to die of either boredom _or_ exhaustion, he had worked out which yet.

The tiny insect came to land on his outstretched hand with a flap of maroon-tipped wings. He got a little shock when it was his own lieutenant's voice which he heard, instead of the old man's, but he listened carefully anyway.

"Captain, we've been given another mission. Apparently Urahara is going away for a while and he needs someone to watch over his shop and Karakura town whilst he's gone. We're to meet there as soon as possible, so I'll see you in a bit. See ya, Captain!" The voice cut off and Toushiro had to supress a smirk at his second-in-command's cheery outlook on the world. No doubt she was already thinking about all the places she would go shopping once their mission began.

With a chuckle Toushiro set off for Karakura town, unaware of the events which were about to unfold.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N** I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who reviewed, I'm glad you all liked it so much :)

I'll be updating as often as I can, but college takes up a lot of my time, so if I seem to have disappeared it's probably just that I've got a lot of work to do.

Hope you guys enjoy the rest of the story XD

* * *

Chapter 8 

*…* = thinking  
"…" = speaking

* * *

Karin swiped sweat from her forehead before settling back into a defensive pose, just in time to block the flurry of attacks Ururu and Jinta rained down upon her. They were sure to attack from different directions, forcing her to twist with each blow in order to block the next one.

Karin was determined to win this test of stamina, and as attacks flew from all sides she spotted her chance. Jinta was slowing down, his swings becoming sluggish as he put less and less energy behind each one. When the time came, instead of blocking the blow she ducked beneath it, weaving between the tired swipes until she was close enough to land a blow.

She drove her sheathed sword into his stomach, causing him to double over, wheezing loudly as he struggled to regain his breath. He was out of the game.

Karin whipped around in a whirl of ebony hair, just in time to see Ururu bringing her weapon down towards her head. She rolled away, regaining her footing quickly as she prepared herself to take the brute force which was one of Ururu's signature moves.

She held her sword above her head as the blow began to fall, taking the brunt of the attack with the covered blade, her arms trembling with the effort needed to fend off the powerful girl. Somehow she managed to push Ururu away, sending her flying so that she landed shakily several metres away. As the quiet girl stumbled, attempting to regain her balance, Karin ran at her. She dealt just one blow, a light hit to the side, and Ururu's shoulder's sagged in defeat.

"**What do you think you're doing Ururu! You were supposed to win!**" Jinta shouted from the side-lines, his breath still raspy from his hit several minutes ago. He ducked a stone Karin hurled in his direction and turned to look at her, his face already turning red with anger. A shouting match ensued, as was usual with their training sessions.

**"What are you doing Idiot!"**

**"What does it look like I'm doing, moron! I'm teaching you a lesson!"**

**"I don't need a lesson from you! Anyway, _you're_ the one who's supposed to be learning!"**

**"_Training_! Not learning! And -even if I was still training- I would _still _be able to kick your sorry behind half-way to next Sunday!"**

**"_What _did you say!"**

"I'm pretty sure she said she would have been able to defeat you, even if she were untrained. It's a common phrase, and quite appropriate -given the situation. I'm surprised you couldn't work it out, Jinta." Urahara spoke calmly, as though he _hadn't_ just appeared out of nowhere and scared the living daylights out of the three young people who stood in the underground training room.

Karin turned on him, her voice was calm but underlying threats weaved through her words as she spoke.

"And where, exactly, have _you _been? You were supposed to be training me, but I've hardly seen you for almost a month now!" She had been training with Urahara for almost four years now, and in that time she had become accustomed to having her teacher's attention whenever she was supposed to have a session. But recently that had changed.

"Sorry, I've been working on a new invention; if it works then it should make the use of gigais about 250% easier." He finished with a chuckle, hiding his face behind his signature fan. Karin frowned at his joking and lax attitude to her training. "Anyway, I came down here to check your blade." He held out his hand as Karin reluctantly parted with the sheathed weapon, letting out a sigh to show her lack of enthusiasm.

"What can you do _now_, eh?" Jinta jeered, before being kicked in the face and sent sprawling across the ground. He didn't speak again, just gave Karin a dirty look as he nursed a very-possibly broken nose.

Meanwhile, Urahara had revealed the sparkling black blade which was her pride-and-joy; he held it up to the artificial light, checking for any damage to the blade. He wasn't surprised to find it still in perfect condition. The two inscriptions shone brightly; one side showed the original inscription –_sedo chaos de pugna_, latin for _Calm the chaos of battle_, Urahara found it oddly fitting for the fiery but calm young woman who stood before her.

The second inscription had been requested by Karin herself, after a certain… unpleasantness, several years ago.

_Aeternum vale_ - _Farewell forever_.

He smiled sadly as he handed the sword back to its owner with a nod. "You take care of her; Kurohime's a very special sword."

"I know." Karin answered back in a whisper, looking down at the sword happily. She drank in its features, the way the black blade curved ever-so-slightly, and how the hilt was perfectly shaped to fit her hand, and her hand only.

She remembered when Urahara had told her about her sword, about how it was a prototype _created _zanpaktou which he had made with the help of his own zanpaktou, Benihime. That was why he had jokingly named it after her, twisting her name so that it fit the new blade, black as night.

But there was no Shikai or Bankai, it was just that it entwined with the user's own spirit to allow it to shape to fit their personality and their body appropriately. Karin found it fascinating that her teacher had been able to create something so complex, it was truly amazing.

Urahara clapped his hands together loudly, causing Karin to jump and shaking her out of her thoughts. "I think that's enough training for today, don't you Kurosaki?" He turned to her, his signature smile twisting his lips upwards; she had never been able to decide whether that smile was sincere or not.

She replied with nothing more than a grunt.

"But I thought you had to work today?" He managed to phrase it like a question, one eyebrow raising quizzically as he watched for her reaction, "You don't want to be late _again_, do you?"

She cursed lightly under her breathe before sprinting for the ladder, furiously checking her watch as she ran *_Good, I've still got about fifteen minutes. I should be able to get there in time._* Karin smiled grimly as she began her climb back to the surface.

She had been working for Tatsuki as an assistant teacher for several years now, and she was glad she had. In those few years she had bonded even more with the older woman, to a point where she almost counted her as a sister, especially with Yuzu away at University and her father travelling around the world for at least the next year. She had decided to stay at home, working part-time for Tatsuki whilst also studying to become a nurse. Of course, alongside all of that was also the training with Urahara and fighting any hollows which got too brave and ventured into the town.

Now that she thought about it, that had been becoming more and more of a common occurrence. Normally she would have stopped to think about that, wonder why the increase was happening and possibly even turn back so she could question Urahara, but at the moment she didn't have time. Just as she reached the top of the ladder she heard a muffled shout from below her, she stuck her head through the hole and looked down, only to see Urahara staring up at her.

"Don't forget that we're going out of town for a few weeks, so training is cancelled until we get back. Okay?" He shouted up to her.

She responded with a swift nod, before turning to dash away.

"Well, I am glad that we managed to get her to leave. It would have been quite awkward if she had run into out impending guests." He tittered to himself before turning to Ururu and Jinta, "Can you two please go and tidy up upstairs? I'll wait for the good captain and his lieutenant here."

He didn't even wait for their responses before turning away; he already knew how they would react. Ururu would nod politely and go to do her work, whilst Jinta would complain as much as physically possible, until Tessai would appear at which point he would go off to do his duties like a good little boy.

Urahara smirked as he heard the sound of Tessai catching the young boy mid-rant, eliciting a strangled cry from the surprised man.

A gate began to open before him, he stepped back a few feet and watched as two figures strode through.

* * *

Karin arrived at the large building with several minutes to spare, her face red as she walked under the huge sign which hung above the door and entered the main room. She moved her way through the busy room, dodging children as she made her way to the small office on the other side of the building. That was where Tatsuki would be.

She knocked lightly on the door, hoping that the older woman would be able to hear her over the sound of their students. She was just raising her hand to knock again when the door opened slightly, revealing the kind face and spiky hair she had come to know so well.

"Karin?" She sniffed, obviously trying to hide her tears despite the fact that they were still rolling down her cheeks.

"You okay, Tatsuki? What's wrong?" Karin asked gently, nudging her way through the door so she could stand in front of the taller girl, she stood there for a few seconds before something in her clicked. Now she remembered what day it was.

"Now I understand why Ichigo was always so upset when that day came around each year…" Tatsuki tried to smile but just broke down into more tears.

It was the four year anniversary of her mother's death. How could she have forgotten?

Karin pulled her friend into a tight hug; she knew how she felt, even if she didn't really remember specific things about her own mum it was more about the feeling of losing someone who always felt unbreakable, something which should have lasted forever.

"Why don't you go home and rest, take the rest of the day off? I'm okay teaching the kids." She looked down at the shaking body held in her arms, waiting for a response. The spiky-haired head nodded into her chest and she let out a sigh of relief, usually Tatsuki wasn't so agreeable. Karin rubbed her back soothingly as she began to calm down.

When the older woman was ready she pulled away, looking down at her. Red-rimmed eyes meeting clear brown as she tried for another smile, this time she succeeded and she managed to show the younger woman a grateful flash of teeth before turning to leave. "Thank you Karin."

"It's no problem." Karin answered, shutting the door behind the other woman and changing swiftly before returning to the main room and gathering her students together.

"Okay guys, let's start." She said happily, clapping her hands together as she began the routine warm-ups which had been drilled into her mind since she was a little kid.

* * *

"We need to go out of town for a few weeks, but there's been a lot of hollow activity recently. More than I've seen in a long time. I don't know whether a lower level shinigami would be able to handle the risks." Urahara paused in his explanation, looking Toushiro over for a moment.

"Also, there's something else I would like to ask you to do for me. If that's okay?" He asked sweetly, batting his eyelids at the unsuspecting captain.

"What?" Toushiro inquired, suspicion lacing through his voice as he watched the older man stand and beckon for him to follow.

They weaved their way through the back rooms of the store until they reached a low doorway near the back of the building. "I have created a new type of gigai; it mimics the user's appearance exactly, allowing for anyone to use it. It makes things so much easier when creating gigais for more powerful shinigami such as yourself." He opened the door, allowing them access to what appeared to be his lab.

"It means that I don't have to spend time creating things like facial features and can instead use that time to make sure that reiatsu is hidden properly." He gestured to one side of the room which housed the empty, faceless gigai. "Of course, this is only a prototype. All of the tests I have done so far have proved to be great successes though."

"And you want me to test this out for you." It wasn't a question, Toushiro already knew the answer.

"If you would be so kind." With a nod of assent from Toushiro he began to leave. "It works just like a normal gigai, so you should be able to work out how to use it by yourself. Anyway, we've got to get going."

He was almost out of the room when he turned back to face Toushiro, his lips set into a stern line as he spoke, "Oh, and try to avoid Karin." The white-haired captain flinched noticeably at the sound of her name. "She wasn't very appreciative of you leaving and she is not one to forgive _or_ forget easily."

Toushiro let his head drop for a moment, he had never stopped feeling regret for how things had turned out between them, but that was the way of the world. He looked up to reply to Urahara's comment, only to find the man gone.

* * *

_sedo chaos de pugna – Calm the chaos of battle_

_Aeternum vale - Farewell forever_

_Kurohime – dark princess_


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N** Sorry It's so late guys, I've been super-busy with college work so I've really just been writing little bits whenever I found I had a few minutes free. Hope it's okay :D

And as always I love to hear from you so please drop me a comment if you want :) See you when I next update

* * *

Chapter 9

*…* = thinking  
"…" = speaking

* * *

Matsumoto looked up with a puzzled expression as her captain returned to the room, she could have sworn he was just muttering something about disappearing shop-keepers, but that might have just been her imagination.

"What did Urahara want to ask you?" she asked as she slouched in front of the TV, wrist relaxed as she flicked through the channels. The very image of tranquillity.

He sighed, sitting despondently in the only seat _not _taken up by his lazy vice-captain. "Just wanted me to test out some new gigai he's developed."

"Well? Are you gonna?" Her eyes didn't leave the TV screen as an advert for lipstick flashed across the monitor, she pursed her lips as she wondered whether the colour would suit her.

"I guess so; I doubt anything interesting's going to happen anyway…" His words trailed off as he realised that the redhead wasn't paying him any attention. Well, it wasn't like he wasn't used to it by now. He stood up, intent on leaving; She always complained that he didn't speak to her enough, and now here he was _trying _to have a conversation with her and she was _ignoring _him.

"Wait! Captain, where're you going?" Matsumoto looked up just as he was about to leave the room, his hand resting on the door-handle. He turned around and their eyes met, his flashing angrily and hers filled with concern for her young captain.

"I'm going to go train, though I don't see how that's any of your business." He answered sharply.

"All you do these days is train and go on missions. Take a break; let yourself relax for a bit." She kept eye contact with him, desperate for him not to push himself further. It did seem that all he did these days was work and train; she couldn't remember the last time he had done anything she would count as 'fun' (although she suspected that their thoughts on what constituted fun were probably quite different…)

"Please, Captain, can you not train tonight?" She saw him beginning to hesitate and went in for the final push. "Please, for me?" She asked sweetly, her eyes wide and dewy in a well-practised kicked-puppy expression.

After a few moments he sighed, admitting defeat. "Fine, I won't train. But I can't sit still whilst I'm in this mood, is there anything that needs doing?"

She thought for a minute, her finger tapping her chin as she pondered everything which could possible need doing.

"Ah-ha, I've got it!" She answered enthusiastically, "Urahara said there wasn't much food left in the shop, you could go down to the shop and get some groceries!" Somehow she managed to make it sound like an epic adventure, instead of a trip to the supermarket. "Oh, and it would let you try out your new gigai. Two birds with one stone, Captain." She said with an enticing grin, hoping he would accept her idea.

"Hmph, fine… I'll be back in a bit." Then he turned and left, closing the door behind him.

Matsumoto just sat back on the sofa and let out a sigh of relief. At least she knew today wasn't going to be the day her captain pushed himself just that little bit too far and finally fell off of the edge he'd been teetering on for the last four years.

* * *

"Bye Sensei!" called the little boy as he left the building, one hand waving wildly in the air and the other clutching at the side of his mother's long skirt as she dragged the child away from where his teacher stood waving in the doorway.

Karin chuckled to herself; teaching the younger kids' classes always cheered her up. She didn't know why; perhaps it was because it reminded her of how her family was in a happier time. Took her back to when her and Yuzu would look up from playing with their toys to see their mother and Ichigo returning home, his hand always clasping a long-fingered hand or the edge of her skirt. How she would reach down to ruffle his messy orange hair and he would look up at her with equal amounts of adoration and joy, his expression so innocent and unguarded it could break your heart.

She missed that expression on her brother.

She missed her brother.

Ichigo barely ever came home to visit these days. When he had first moved to soul society he had come back to see them at least once a month, now they were lucky if they got a visit twice a year. She knew she couldn't blame him (it was his job after-all) but she couldn't help but feel abandoned, especially after…

_No_, she couldn't let herself start thinking about that again, she'd spent too long pushing that bastard out of her head for him to sneak back in now. She shoved any thoughts of the past out of her head as she began sweeping the floor.

She spent a while cleaning up, hoping to ease the burden on Tatsuki when she arrived the next morning, and once she was satisfied she stood back and looked around the room with a tiny smile on her lips, content with her work. She set the broom against the wall and left the building, locking the door behind her before turning towards home.

She trudged miserably through the streets as rain began to pelt her, the already grey sky growing even darker as thick black clouds billowed above the city. Karin sighed, pushing a wet lock of black hair out of her eyes as she kept her head down and marched onwards. Right now she just wanted to get home, get dry, and go to sleep.

She was just around the corner from the house when it became apparent that that wasn't going to happen.

She felt a sudden burst of reiatsu flare up not too far away. If the inhabitants of Urahara's shop had been in town she may have been tempted to just leave it to them, but as it stood it seemed as though she was the only one who could do anything to stop it.

She could feel the wickedness and pure destructive energy radiating from the spot and guessed it was almost definitely an adjuchas, probably of middle-level strength from the amount of reiatsu emanating from the spot on the other side of town.

She quickly ran to her house, juggling the keys between her hands as she almost dropped them in her haste, ducked inside the doorway and drew out her sheathed sword. She was gone before the door had even swung shut, locking automatically.

She ran towards the source of the reiatsu -not too far away, to the north of the centre of town- sliding her sword through her belt as she ran so that it bounced securely at her hip. She nodded happily. "This looks like it'll be a good one." She spoke out loud as she smiled in anticipation, pushing herself to run faster as she neared the spot.

* * *

Toushiro walked uncomfortably towards where his lieutenant had promised there was a very affordable corner shop. The reason he was uncomfortable was his new gigai. It felt weird, almost as though it was too tight and was crushing his spirit-body (although that was impossible since he had no physical form to ibe/i crushed.) The whole experience was really rather unpleasant.

He grimaced as he felt a drop of rain on his cheek *_Just what I need! Rain!_* He soldiered on as he continued his trek through the ever-increasing downpour; he was only a few minutes away from the shop and he wasn't going to turn back now. He couldn't bear to be in that building for another minute. It brought back too many bad memories…

Well, not **bad **memories, just things he'd rather forget. Things he was better off forgetting. For his sake.

For _her _sake.

He grimaced as he carried on walking; ever since Urahara had mentioned Karin he hadn't been able to get her out of his head, he wanted to see her so badly but he knew he couldn't. And it wasn't like people had told him; when he'd - admittedly quite awkwardly - asked Ukitake what it felt like to miss someone you loved the older man had told him (after gushing for about half an hour about how his "little-Shiro" was growing up) that you thought about them every day, that you would remember the smallest details about them and how they made you feel.

But if someone had asked him how he'd felt when he was around Karin he wouldn't be able to explain it; if someone had asked him to describe her face he couldn't have gone into detail. On the other hand, if someone had asked to describe what she was like he could have talked for hours, about how she was strong and smart, sarcastic and witty, how she could catch him completely off his guard and still make him feel more comfortable than he'd felt in years. He'd told Ukitake that and the white-haired captain had just chuckled and told him that obviously it was _real _love. When Toushiro had asked what he meant the older captain had just ruffled his hair and left, giggling quietly to himself.

"Damn useless Ukitake…" The young captain muttered as he walked towards the lit shop entrance, the doors sliding open smoothly as he stepped inside out of the rain. He scooped up a small shopping basket and –after slicking his hair out of his face—he began to move down the aisles. His mind wandered as he went about the menial task, every now and then he would look back at the list Matsumoto had hastily stuffed into his hand as he had left.

Unsurprisingly it contained alcohol.

Probably even less surprisingly, he wasn't planning on buying it for her. If she wanted to get drunk she could pay for it herself.

It seemed as though he had only been there a few minutes when he found himself at the end of the last aisle. He moved to the first free checkout desk, noticeably ignoring the appreciative looks thrown at him by the woman who was scanning his items through the machine as he waited impatiently for her to finish. He wanted to get back soon, even though he'd felt anxious and uncomfortable at the Urahara shop. There was something weird in the air tonight, and he'd really rather not be caught out in the open by whatever it was.

When the girl was finally finished ogling him and packing his bags, he paid (he was pretty sure she had given him a discount) and left carrying a bag in each hand. They weren't heavy so he wasn't really bothered by it, but during his time in the shop the rain had gotten even heavier. It was now so heavy that he could barely see five meters in front of him, and his hearing was pretty-much completely nullified. He groaned, this was going to be an unpleasant walk home.

As he moved through the pounding rain he became increasing uneasy, something was really not right. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on edge and his entire body was tense, as though readying itself for a battle. He tried to check the area around him but could see nothing through the downpour which pelted the pavement around him. His head whipped back and forth as he reached for the soul candy in his pocket.

He quickly popped it in his mouth; after all it was better to be safe and forced to handle the ridiculous soul Urahara had fobbed off on him than to be dead. He frowned as he found he couldn't even swallow it, it was as though the gigai refused to accept the artificial soul. He kept trying and found the same thing happened again and again, if anything the gigai was beginning to feel even tighter than before, as though it didn't want to let him out.

"Damn freaky shopkeeper, what did he do to this thing…?" He muttered under his breath as he resorted to trying to get his soul out of the fake body by force in the hopes that it just didn't need an artificial soul. Perhaps it was a new feature by Urahara? Gigai's with an artificial soul already built into them.

He sincerely hoped that was what was happening here, because if it wasn't then he was trapped here, with no back up, no way to get out of his gigai and get to his sword, and a large reiatsu source rapidly approaching him.

He managed to try once more before something slammed into him, sending him flying as his already-forgotten groceries scattered across the wet ground. He looked up through the rain and saw the barely-visible outline of the hollow which stood above him. He didn't know what was going on but he did know that when he next saw that stupid shopkeeper he was going to kill him! This gigai was supposed to stop reiatsu from leaking out (which it obviously didn't, since the hollow which towered above him had found him easy enough), not stop him from fighting. At the moment he was little more than a regular, unarmed, human. He tried to move and felt something twinge painfully in his back where he'd hit the concrete.

Add injured to that list and he barely had a chance of surviving, let alone winning.

He forced himself to stand and grimaced as his back and (he was guessing from experience) several ribs began to scream in complaint. He ignored the pain and pushed himself into a defensive pose, hoping that he could dodge and deflect the hollow's attacks long enough for him to come up with a decent plan.

He'd barely had time to settle into his position before blows began raining down on him; he managed to dodge most of them but they just kept coming. The first hit which landed was a punch to his stomach, luckily it didn't have much force behind it and Toushiro managed to keep his footing. He had to force himself not to double over; he knew that if he took his eyes off of the hollow he wouldn't survive this battle.

After that first punch landed the hollow grew bolder and Toushiro grew more cautious. He was making stupid mistakes as the list of minor injuries piled up, a scratch here and a punch there eventually added up and he found himself staggering under each hit.

He could pinpoint the exact moment when the fight had taken a complete downward turn. He tried to dodge a vicious slash from the hollow but miscalculated how far back he had to move. A large gash opened in his chest, and although it was shallow it was long and wide enough that it caused him to double-over in pain, his hands pressed firmly over the cut as he tried to back away from the hollow which was still mercilessly attempting to hit him.

A heavy blow to the side of his head sent him flying through the air and straight into a wall. His head hit with a crack loud enough that it was still audible through the heavy rain and he slid to the ground, his eyesight blurring as he barely managed to hold onto consciousness.

* * *

As Karin rounded the corner she instantly spotted the hollow. It was large, muscles bulged under sickly-grey skin as it leaned over a figure slumped against the wall. She assumed it was a soul who had been unlucky enough to catch the attention of the hollow which towered above it, although she couldn't be sure because of how the rain affected her vision.

She drew her sword and banged it loudly against a pipe attached to the wall beside her. "**Oi**, Big-ugly!" The hollow looked up, its yellow eyes glowing angrily at the human who was insisting on interrupting its meal. "Yeah, you!" She shouted, pointing the tip of her sword at the angry hollow, "Bring it on!" She said, her voice dropping low enough to be mocking but still be heard, she tilted her head slightly to the side as a smile full of blood-lust danced on her lips.

The hollow charged, she deflected it with her blade but he just carried on fighting. Anyone who saw her would think it was odd; the way her lips twisted into a smile as she gave as good as she got against the hollow which had to be at least twice her size. But she lived for this; she craved the adrenaline which pumped through her veins as she swung her sword in deadly circles, the blade biting deep into hollow flesh and emerging stained with red.

The battle seemed too short to her, but she knew she couldn't drag it out like she normally would have. She was tired from work and her earlier training, and the rain wasn't helping much either. She'd rather finish her fun early than risk being injured because she made a stupid mistake.

And of course there was the injured soul propped up against the wall to think of.

That thought cinched it; she couldn't risk the soul just because she wanted to play with the muscle-head hollow she was fighting. She swung her sword through a deadly arc, ending the hollow in one final hit.

She was already moving before the body had even finished disintegrating.

She approached the figure cautiously; aware that it might be a trap set up by a more intelligent hollow that had been using the one she had just killed. But she caught a flash of familiar silver-white hair and half-lidded, drowsy, turquoise eyes and suddenly found herself kneeling beside the wounded shinigami, her hand clutching his as emotions danced through her mind.

"Toushiro…?" She asked quietly, disbelieving. She could see his unfocused eyes searching for the source of the voice and when they finally settled on her face she smiled sadly down at him. "Look at the mess you've gotten yourself into." She said in mock-annoyance, although she couldn't bear to be angry with him when he was like this, even after everything that had happened between them.

Once he was better however… Oh, he'd get an earful then.

But right now she needed to get him out of the rain. She pulled him into a sitting position before slinging one of his arms around the back of her neck and helping him to stand up shakily. His other hand covered the slash in his chest as they began to walk slowly towards her house and the clinic.

When he spoke for the first time it was so quiet she almost missed it.

"Karin…?"

She looked down at him, only to find his face averted. "Hmm?"

He was quiet for a long time, the only sounds coming from him pain-filled pants and occasional muffled cries as his injuries were jolted.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" He wouldn't meet her eyes and she could see that he was close to passing out again. She just hoped he would last until they reached the clinic.

She made no response to his words.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N** Oooh, shiny new chapter :D Sorry it took so long guys, there's been problems at home and college work and lots of other stuff going on in my life which I had to sort out. Never mind, it's up now so I hope you all enjoy it. I'm thinking of writing a Christmas special for 'forbidden' with Matsumoto and her drinking buddies dragging the not-so-happy couple along to the Christmas party, the idea came to me when I was writing this chapter but I don't know whether it will happen or not.

As always, thank you guys so much for reviewing, it really is what keeps me writing :D

* * *

Chapter 10

*…* = thinking  
"…" = speaking

* * *

He'd lasted longer than Karin had expected. He'd finally passed out just before her house came into view and –with a lot of work on her part- she'd eventually managed to get him into the clinic and onto one of the beds. She'd been glad he was still unconscious when she checked his injuries because she didn't think she could have faced him with the blush which had covered her face at the sight of him shirtless.

He'd always been strong, his job demanded it, but now the proof was right before her- he seemed to be nothing but tightly-packed muscle within a small, lean body. A fresh, jagged slash ran across his torso- bright red against pale white- which she set to cleaning straight away. She had to stop the bleeding now or he might lose too much blood.

She worked quickly and efficiently, pushing her personal feelings away and forcing herself to see him as just another patient so that she could get the job done. It upset her to see him so beat-up, but she was relieved when she finished checking him over and had found no injuries more serious than the slash on his chest and a bump to his head. She didn't think it would be too much to worry about, but if he took too long to wake up she would take him to the hospital-just in case.

She sighed, flopping into an armchair across the room from his sleeping form to wait for him to wake up. She smothered a yawn; she was completely exhausted, she felt as though she hadn't sat down at all today. She'd been working in the clinic all morning, and then she'd been training at Urahara's, she'd ran to Tatsuki's and taught for over two hours and then she'd ran into Toushiro and the hollow.

She felt exhausted just thinking about it and before she knew it her eyes were beginning to slide shut. She curled up in the armchair and was asleep in seconds, her arms wrapped around herself as she slipped into her scarily familiar dream.

_

* * *

A five year old Karin was sobbing quietly on the top step of the house, her surroundings familiar and yet so alien to her that it was soul-crushing. There was something wrong with the house; something was missing and she didn't know what. She craved the ability to be able to fix it, to be able to stop her sister's tears and her brother's flat expression. _

_She needed to protect them._

_Next thing she knew, she had grown; she was now eleven and sat on the same step. But this time she did not let any tears fall; she held them back and kept her eyes focused on the door in front of her. She couldn't take her eyes away from it or she would never be able to stop Yuzu's muffled sobs when she thought Karin was asleep late at night or goat-face's attempts at cheering them both up when they knew he was as worried as they were._

_She had to find her brother._

_As she had so many times before; she felt a hand on her shoulder -warm and yet somehow ice-cold at the same time- soothing away her worries and allowing her to trust in her brother to come home, safe, on his own._

_The hand left her and she didn't think about it for a while, she lived a happy life with her family back in one piece and her mother's memory always in the back of their minds. She thought it would stay like this -of course they would grow up and move away, raise their own families- but they started drifting apart again._

_The loneliness was stifling; she missed them so much it hurt. But she still had to protect them- that was what she wanted to do with her life- protect her family so they could fulfil their dreams. _

_She told herself that was her dream, to protect not just her family and not just her friends, but to protect the entire town. To help it flourish without the threat of hollows hanging above it._

_Then the world went black._

_Light didn't return to her world, but she could feel another presence there with her- cold but warm as it embraced her, gentle arms wrapping around her as she inhaled the familiar scent. She didn't know how long they stayed like that for but she felt herself sinking closer to the other person, their bodies fitting together perfectly._

_She felt the memory of a kiss to her lips and then another –softer, slower, but somehow desperate- to her forehead. The lips lingered, whispered something intelligible, and were gone. The arms unwrapped from around her, fingertips trailing down her arms before catching her own and trying to hold on. It felt as though they were pulled away and she felt the other presence fading into the distance._

_She tried to follow but she still couldn't see, couldn't tell which way the other had gone and had no way of following it. She stood alone in the dark._

_That was where the dream always ended, with her alone in the dark. Karin could feel herself pushing back to the surface but something grabbed her and dragged her back under, back into the terrifying blackness which she had fled from every night for almost four years. _

_Light flooded back to her eyes and a silhouette stood before her, reaching out to pull her in to familiar arms. She sighed, resting her chin on a solid shoulder as she buried her face in soft white hair. Lips tickled her ear and she couldn't help but giggle._

_She pulled away to look into the sweet face she'd been waiting for and smiled. Fingertips reached up to wipe away tears she hadn't realised had been falling as he leaned forward to steal a kiss from her. _

_She smiled into his lips, this was what she wanted- __**he**__ was what she wanted._

* * *

Karin sat up, her eyes darting around the room after the sudden revelation within her dream. She looked over at the bed; even from there she could see the steady rise and fall of Toushiro's chest and no other movement. She sighed in relief; she didn't think she could face him for the first time in four years after having that dream.

She reached for the phone, intent on calling Urahara's shop to find out who was here with him and whether they could be any help at all with the question which had been eating away at her brain ever since she had found him, and she needed something to get her mind off of that dream. After dialling the number she waited for a reply and was greeted with a distressed (and loud) answer of "Captain? Where are you? What happened?"

Eventually the voice on the other end of the phone calmed down enough for Karin to get a word in edgeways, "Toushiro's fine, but he got into a bit of a fight with a hollow. I brought him back to the clinic to make sure he was okay." She spoke calmly into the phone as she waited for the woman on the other end to explode into conversation again.

"Wait, clinic? The _Kurosaki_ clinic?"

"Yeah…" Karin asked sceptically.

"So you must be Karin Kurosaki…" It sounded more like the woman was talking to herself than to Karin, as though she was trying to process a particularly difficult piece of information.

"Yes, I am. Do you want to come round and see him; he should be waking up soon…?" Karin asked, although really she just didn't want to be alone with Toushiro. Perhaps she could ask her why Toushiro was still in his gigai when she got there too…

"Yes, of course. I'll be there in a little while. Byeee." And with that cheerful note the other woman hung up.

"Bye then." Karin said sarcastically into the phone before hanging up her end as well. She sighed, sounded like this woman was going to be a handful.

She looked down at herself and shifted uncomfortably, her clothes were still damp from last night and they were starting to smell a bit. She walked up to her room to get changed before dropping into her brother's old bedroom to grab a new shirt for Toushiro, his old one was completely wrecked after yesterday. As she was wandering back down to the clinic her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since lunch-time yesterday.

She made herself a sandwich in the kitchen before continuing her walk to the clinic, wondering who the woman on the phone had actually been, she'd forgotten to ask whilst they were talking. Her musings were interrupted by a feminine voice coming from the clinic. She moved quickly and silently, reaching the door in seconds and peeking around the corner to try and find the intruder in her home.

It was a tall, red-headed woman dressed in a shinigami uniform. Karin thought she recognized her, *Oh, that's right! She's his lieutenant! She was with him when…* Her thought trailed off as her mind jumped back to the image of the two figures leaving through the gate in Urahara's basement. She shook her head to clear the image; there was no point in thinking about that now.

She moved into the room and came to stand across the bed from the red-haired vice-captain, her hands on her hips. "How did you get into my house?" She asked in a dangerously calm voice as she refused to move her eyes away from the older woman.

"Your brother gave us a key to the clinic. Just in case any of us ever needed emergency treatment and there was no other way to get it." She answered nervously. So, this was the woman her captain had fallen for, she was beginning to see why- she was absolutely terrifying and yet beautiful at the same time.

"Well, that explains how you got in. Now, _why_ did you feel the need to break into my house instead of just knocking the door like a normal person?" Karin felt a little bad for being mean to the other woman, but she had to admit that it sort of felt like her personal space had been invaded by this woman- and she didn't like it.

"I was just…" She looked doubtfully down at the sleeping figure before her. "I was worried about him. He's been taking stupid risks lately; I was afraid he might have finally done himself in." She chuckled to herself "Although I should have known that a common hollow could never take down our captain." She sounded like a proud mother boasting about her child's achievements at school.

Karin couldn't help the small, sad smile which twitched onto her lips. For some reason she couldn't stay mad at this woman who obviously cared so much about Toushiro.

She placed the clean shirt down on the chair beside the bed and looked back up at the other woman with a smile on her face. "Would you mind helping me to check his injuries, there aren't too many of them so it should only take a few minutes. I just want to make sure the bleeding has stopped."

Matsumoto looked surprised at Karin's sudden change in attitude but smiled back at her, "Yeah, of course."

They set to work, Matsumoto wasn't too surprised at her captain's wounds, she seen him take worse before. She did wince slightly at the slash across his chest, it looked as though it might leave a scar and she knew that -unlike some of the other lieutenants and captains- he didn't see scars as badges of honour but rather as proof of his past failure.

Karin noticed her reaction and gave her a small smile, "Luckily that was the worst injury he took, that and a hit to the head, though I can't really check that until he's awake. I don't think it's too serious, though if he wasn't a shinigami I don't know whether he would have survived. It's amazing how much of a beating you guys can take!"

"Hehe, thanks." Matsumoto smiled across at the younger woman before realizing something with a start. "Oh, by the way, I'm Rangiku Matsumoto, lieutenant of the tenth division of shinigami." She said cheerily with a wave.

"Oh, I'm Karin Kurosaki. Pleased to meet you." Karin answered with a smile, "Well, I think we're just about done here, do you want a cup of tea whilst we wait for him to wake up?"

"Oh, yes please, that would be great!" They moved through to the kitchen where Karin set about making the tea. Matsumoto watched her moving around the room, each step was like part of a well-choreographed dance as they seemed to flow together into one long movement.

"So, where did you learn to fight?" Matsumoto asked sweetly as the younger girl came to sit across from her at the table, sliding a cup across to her.

"How did you know I can fight?"

"It's obvious from the way you move." She answered sagely with a nod. Karin raised a sceptical eyebrow at her answer. "Okay, okay. I saw your sword."

"Yeah, I thought it was probably something like that. Urahara's been teaching me with the sword for the last four years, but I've been doing martial arts for most of my life." She took a sip of her drink before smiling at the older woman. "There was something I wanted to ask you. Do you mind?"

"No, what's up?" Matsumoto asked, intrigued.

"Well, when I found him he was still in his gigai, and he was fighting a hollow he could have beaten really easily if he'd had Hyōrinmaru with him." She looked down, hiding the worry in her eyes. "I know you said he's been taking a lot of risks lately, but surely he wouldn't have…"

Matsumoto sighed, "No he wouldn't risk his position like that. I don't know why he wasn't fighting in his shinigami form, but I think he said something about Urahara developing a new prototype gigai he wanted him to try out. Maybe something went wrong with that?"

"Hmm, maybe; I didn't get a chance to ask him when I found him, he was in a pretty bad way and I just wanted to get him out of the rain." They heard movement from the other room and looked up, "I guess he must be waking up, you should probably be there…" Karin went to stand up but was pulled back into her seat and set upon by Matsumoto's steely glare.

"Look, I know you don't want to talk about it right now, but you really need to think through what you're going to say when you speak to him. And you do both need to talk this through, i_together._/i The captain has definitely changed, the old him would never take risks like he does now and it really does worry me. And, from what your brother's told me about you, it seems as though you've changed as well." She smiled slightly, averting her eyes as she continued. "And please, at least let him explain why he left."

"Why should I?" Karin asked stubbornly, crossing her arms across her chest. "He left with no explanation, no goodbye, not even a note!" Her voice had risen, emotions she'd though she'd buried years ago came flying back to the front of her mind.

"Because, you didn't see him when he got back to soul society." Matsumoto said quietly, but it was like she was shouting it into Karin's ear. She didn't want to hear this but she couldn't push herself to leave. "He was broken; when he came back from speaking with the captain commander he told me that he wasn't allowed to see you ever again."

"He was going to come back and see me…?" Karin whispered disbelievingly.

"Yeah, he was going to leave for a few months and then come back once he had sorted everything in soul society out. But the commander refused to give him breaks between missions, and sent him to places as far away from Karakura town as possible. He was obviously trying to keep him away from you." She watched Karin's blank expression for a moment before carrying on. "I don't know why he suddenly decided to place us in Karakura town, perhaps he thinks the captain has matured out of what he thinks is just a little crush between children. But I can tell it's more than that. I could tell straight away that he truly loved you, and he still does even if he doesn't admit it."

She smiled knowingly at the black-haired girl, before reaching forward to wipe a stray tear away from her cheek. "And from the look in your eyes, you feel the same way about him." They sat like that for some time, Matsumoto letting the silence stretch out as she allowed Karin some time to think it over.

"Well, I'm gonna go see him. You come in if you want to talk to him and I'll give you some time alone." The red-head stood and left the room, leaving Karin still staring into her cup, dazed.

*_Is that really how I feel about him? All this time I thought I was just angry at him for leaving but now that I think back… yes, I wasn't angry when I found him, just relieved that he was safe.* _Karin sighed, this was all too much for her. _*Perhaps she's right… I should go and talk to him, right now.* _And yet she sat there for another ten minutes, thinking carefully through what she would say to him when she finally worked up the courage to walk through to the other room and speak to the man she loved.

* * *

Matsumoto smiled at Karin when she entered the room, watching the black haired girl nervously shifting in the doorway. Her captain beside her had gone completely still at the sight of the young woman. She sighed; it looked like they would need a little push in the right direction to get them talking again. Standing up she moved to stand beside Karin, grinning down at her evilly before pushing her into the room and slamming the door shut, she sat against it solid wood and smiled. She wasn't going to let them out of there until they talked, or one of them killed the other, although the first option would be preferable.

* * *

Karin sighed, looking at the shut door, "Well, that's definitely one hell of a lieutenant you've got there…"

"You can say that again…" Their eyes met across the room and they quickly averted their faces, Karin suddenly finding the pattern on her sleeve fascinating as Toushiro's fingers worked nervously at the sheets. He didn't know how to start this conversation, whether to jump right in and say it or to speak as though nothing ever happened. No that'd probably make her angry. Perhaps if he…

"So, how are you feeling?" Karin's voice interrupted his inner-ramble as he watched her walk towards him, he suddenly felt trapped.

"Okay, I guess, sort of like I just got run over by a hollow…"

"Well, you kind of did…"

Silence was back again, awkward as she sat in Matsumoto's vacated seat.

"Karin…" He started as she looked up, her eyes expectant. His voice almost froze in his throat at the sight of those clear brown eyes focused on him once again but he forced his way through it. "Karin, I'm sorry, for leaving and for not telling you anything. It's just that I thought it was for the best and I didn't want you to get hurt… I'm so sorry, please forgive me." The words seemed to just fall out of his mouth, and something about the fact that she was the only person in the world who could make him so tongue-tied made him stupidly happy.

He waited silently for her reply and got a shock when he felt a hand smack him across the face.

Karin watched her hand, not quite believing that she had just done what she'd done but not regretting it. Suddenly all the well thought out words from before weren't an option anymore, because their relationship had never been about words, it had always been about giving the other person comfort. And right now the man before her needed comfort more than he ever had before.

"That was for leaving." She said quietly before placing her hand back on his face, he flinched slightly, wary of receiving another slap.

She leaned forwards and pressed her lips to his, promising him the comfort and human support he needed right now. When she pulled back he looked up at her questioningly, his lips slightly parted as though he was about to ask her something.

"That was for coming back." She said with a small smile, before reaching down and twining their fingers together tightly.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **This is reeeaally late... I feel bad for it being so late because there really wasn't any other reason than that I couldn't get myself to sit down and write, and when I did finally write something there wasn't anywhere near as much as I had been hoping for (The last couple of chapters have been over 3000 words, this one is barely 2000 . ) The special chapter will be up in the next few days, hopefully tomorrow :D Keep reviewing and faving, I love you guys who review regularly sooo much, it makes me want to carry on writing (even when my brain won't let me...)

Anyway, on to the chapter, I'm not sure I like how it turned out so constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated :3

* * *

Chapter 11

*…* = thinking  
"…" = speaking

* * *

Toushiro grumbled impatiently as gentle fingers ran across his skull, searching for injuries. Karin had explained to him that she hadn't been able to check effectively whilst he was lying down and had had to wait until he woke up. Now he found himself waiting for her to finish her check-up so that they could talk more; he didn't know when they would be pulled apart again and he wanted to make the most out of what they had.

Karin released a small sound of victory as she found the lump; it wasn't too big but she was a little concerned about the tiny whimper of pain which the usually-stoic captain had emitted when she had touched it. She peered over his shoulder so their eyes could meet as she spoke.

"Now, did that really hurt or do you just want attention?" She asked jokingly, watching his face with amusement.

"Er…" He stuttered as he searched for an answer, not willing to admit that he really _had_ just been searching for attention from the raven-haired woman.

"Well?" She asked expectantly, standing up to put away the bandages she had taken out when she'd redressed his wounds. He stumbled over his words before finally giving in; he knew she knew anyway, she was just playing with him.

"Attention…" He mumbled, not willing to speak loud enough for his lieutenant (who he knew was sitting outside the door, still blocking their exit) to hear his words. Karin seemed to pop up out of nowhere and dropped a sweet kiss on his cheek, cupping his face in her hands as she grinned at him. He felt himself being pulled into a distant memory, of a much younger Karin grinning at him in the exact same way as he agreed to help her with her football match.

_*Wow, that was almost a decade ago!_* He thought to himself as he watched the innocent grin turn to a smirk; he knew what was coming and braced himself.

"So, you wanted attention from me did you?" She asked in a way other people would probably find terrifying (who was he kidding, he found her terrifying too) "Of course, I can understand. Who _wouldn't_ want to be near me?" She said in mock arrogance, her eyes filled with laughter waiting to burst from between her perfectly rounded lips.

"Hmm… Yeah, that's it." He smiled up at her and she pecked him on the cheek again before going off to tidy the room some more. He watched her as she practically flew around the room, depositing various pieces of medical equipment in their correct places as long hair swung around her and her lips curved into a smile.

"Hey, uh… Karin?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Um, well, I was wondering..." He cleared his throat before continuing, "How come you're working in your Dad's clinic? I mean, not that there's anything wrong with it but I always thought you would end up doing something more…" He flailed his hands desperately in an attempt to get his message across, hoping that she would come and save him from his own babbling mouth.

She laughed at his awkwardness before walking over to sit beside him, flopping down with a happy sigh. "I know what you mean; I ask myself the same thing sometimes." She let out a deep breath, her hands clasped in her lap as she stared at the opposite wall, deep in thought. "I'd always thought I would travel the world and make a real difference to the people out there, or maybe I'd become a sports star and everyone would know my name.

"I never thought I'd end up working for goat-face, with the only people who knew my name being my friends, neighbours and patients. And yet…" She turned to him and smiled, her eyes wistful as she continued explaining, "I found myself enjoying it. I may not being helping a lot of people in a lot of different ways but the people that I do help are those who surround me, the people I've grown up with.

"I'm… glad. Glad that I can help them in any way I can whilst they're still alive. And glad that I can protect them from the hollows once they die." She sat back, a little surprised that she had just bared her soul to someone else so easily. She smiled at him and he automatically smiled back, their hands met halfway between them as both reached towards the other. They sat in comfortable silence, neither one feeling the need to speak as they just watched their entwined hands.

The silence was broken by a loud banging on the door, followed by the obnoxious voice which could only belong to one red-headed lieutenant. "I hope you two aren't doing anything inappropriate because I'm coming in!" she shouted before strutting into the room with her head held high and coming to a stop before the young pair.

"You know, as fun as it would be to sit outside that door for the rest of my life, it would have been nice if you'd come and told me when you made up." She grinned mischievously at the younger two as they quickly pulled their hands back to their own bodies. She squeezed herself between the two, wrapping an arm around each of their shoulders. Karin looked surprised, Toushiro just looked annoyed.

"So Doc, is our fearless captain here going to be okay or is he gonna have to apply for an early retirement?" Her tone was teasing but Karin could hear an undertone of genuine worry. She smiled at the older woman gently.

"He'll be fine; it's just a bump to the head and a few scratches and they're already healing up nicely." She smiled, partly through force of habit when talking to patients loved ones and partly because Matsumoto had just shown how much she truly cared about her young captain once again. "Although," She frowned, her brow wrinkling slightly. "I'm still a bit worried about why he can't get out of his gigai and I should really keep an eye on him for a bit after any head injury, even one this small…"

"Well, I'm sure the captain won't mind staying here with you for a few days until he gets better. He's no good in a fight at the moment, anyway…" She dodged Toushiro's fist by inches before darting away to hide behind Karin. The black haired girl just laughed before scooting over to sit closer to Toushiro, pulling one of his hands into her lap and stroking it gently.

"Go easy on her, she's only telling the truth. You can't fight at the moment and if you try _I'll_ be the one punching _you_." Toushiro visibly gulped at the sweetly spoken threat.

"Well anyway, I'm gonna head back to the shop. It is our assignment after all." She said with a wink and turned to leave. "Oh, if you need to get in contact with me then the captain's got my number. Feel free to call, otherwise I think I may die of boredom." She made a face before twirling once and exiting the room.

The room was silent in her wake, the comfortable silence which had been present before her sudden appearance had turned awkward now that she was gone. They sat together on the bed, Karin still cradling Toushiro's hand in her lap as she drew circles on the back of it with her fingertip.

"Well… I guess I'm staying here for now then. If that's okay with you, Karin?" He shrugged his shoulders as though it would relieve some of the discomfort which floated between them.

"Yeah, that's fine." Karin's voice was clipped and tight as she let go of his hand and made to stand up. A part of her was angry that he let her go and didn't ask her what was wrong; another was glad, because she didn't think that she could have explained it even if he _had_ asked. Instead he felt himself being pulled back into sleep once again, his worn out and injured body craving rest.

Karin left the room with a slight wave of her hand and a promise of food when he woke up. Toushiro settled down between the warm sheets, mumbling quietly about women and mixed messages.

* * *

Toushiro woke up to find himself surrounded by darkness, the curtains of the room's single window drawn to prevent access for the moonlight. He stretched -wincing slightly as newly-healed skin pulled taught- and looked around the dim room. He found a plate beside his bed with a freshly-made sandwich on it; beside the plate rested a neatly written note.

He reached both hands out, coming back with both objects and quickly setting to work on the sandwich, his stomach growling in appreciation as he ate his first food in over a day. As he ate he squinted down at the paper, his eyes complaining about the poor light as they tried to decipher the neatly scrawled letters which lay before him. With some work he eventually managed it and found himself slowly working his way through the message from Karin.

_Toushiro, _

_I wish I didn't have to write a note, but I don't think I'll stay awake long enough to speak to you when you wake up. _

_Sorry for acting so snappy earlier, I guess it was probably the shock of you being back. It wasn't really anything personal; I was probably just a bit tired. _

_You've got free reign of the house, feel free to make yourself at home. If you don't feel like staying in the clinic then you can stay in Ichigo's room, he hasn't used it in years but we've kept it clean just in case. _

_If you need me then come and find me, I won't be that difficult to find. Don't worry about anyone else turning up; it's just us here at the moment._

_Karin_

Toushiro smiled down at the paper; even when she wasn't there Karin managed to sound sarcastic and mocking. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and began making his way across the room to the door. He found himself in the short hallway which connected the clinic to the house and walked quietly into the main house, trying not to make any noise so that he wouldn't wake Karin.

He tiptoed towards the stairs but stopped suddenly in the living-room doorway when he heard breathing coming from the sofa. He snuck towards the source of the sound, still trying to move silently in the hopes of catching Karin off guard.

The TV played softly in the background as he finally rounded the edge of the sofa, coming to a stop as he caught sight of the figure which lay before him. Karin had fallen asleep, her hair fanning out around her as she shifted slightly. She was curled into a ball with her head resting on a cushion and her arms and legs pulled tightly towards her body in a bid to keep warm. Her mouth was set in a flat line and there was the slightest dent in her brow as she unconsciously searched for heat from her surroundings.

Toushiro found himself smiling down at the woman before he reached towards the top of the sofa and pulled down the blanket which had been folded on top of it. He tucked it tightly around the small body and stood back, noting that the dent in her brow was gone and her lips had tilted ever-so-slightly upwards at the corners.

A kiss was dropped on the end of her nose, causing her to shift slightly in her sleep before burying herself further under the blanket with an unconscious sigh of relief. Toushiro watched her from the opposite armchair, before ignoring Karin's offer of a bed and drifting into sleep right there.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N **sorry I've been gone so long guys, life has been throwing everything it's got at me and I've been having a hard time keeping up, but on the plus side I've got a double update for you today. Yes that's right, _two_ chapters for the price of _one_! :D

A few of you have asked whether Urahara purposely put Toushiro in danger with the prototype gigai. I think it was about 50% wanting to hurt him and 50% just wanting to test out his new invention. Of course he may have been a little bit less worried if it didn't work if the only person who was going to get hurt was Toushiro... I love overprotective father/brother/teacher characters, don't you? :)

Anyway, without further ado, it's on with the show we go.

Enjoy xxx

* * *

Chapter 12

* * *

*…* = thinking  
"…" = speaking

* * *

Toushiro was woken by the sounds of banging on the door followed by a loud shout of "Oi, Sleepyhead! Wake up, it's time for breakfast!" He couldn't stop himself from chuckling a bit at the now familiar sounds of Karin downstairs in the kitchen. She had the radio blasting out whatever new song was currently at number one and he knew that she would be dancing around right up until the moment he went downstairs. Of course, she was far too mature for anyone to _see_ her dancing so she would stop when she heard him coming down the stairs.

He took this as a challenge.

He had a good feeling about today, despite the fact that he had been staying with Karin for over a week now and had not even gotten close to his goal. But today would be different- he was _definitely_ going to catch her out today.

He hastily got dressed and began his plan. He knew that she would stop if she heard him coming down the stairs so he slipped silently out of the window, shimmied down the drainpipe and lined himself up so that he could easily swing in through the open kitchen window without landing flat on his face.

He waited for just the right moment- when a particularly loud song burst through the speakers- and pounced. He landed with his hand outstretched, his finger pointing accusingly at the spot where Karin should have been standing. "Ah-ha! Gotcha!"

"Got what?"

Toushiro glanced around quickly and finally found the source of the disinterested voice. Karin was sat at the kitchen table with a slice of thickly buttered toast in one hand and the morning's newspaper in the other.

"Ugh, never mind…" Toushiro groaned as he flopped into the chair opposite her and began working on his own breakfast. They stayed in silence as they ate, Karin managing to remain completely nonchalant despite the glares being thrown at her across the table. Karin finally got sick of the angry stare, stood up and moved around the table so that she stood beside the white-haired captain's chair.

Toushiro looked shocked as his arms were suddenly filled with the dark-haired girl as she flung herself at him. She trailed lingering kisses along his jaw as he sat completely motionless, still ignoring her.

"Come on, I'm sorry. You know I was only playing about, don't you?" She kissed his non-responsive lips as she tried to tease a reaction from him. "Please forgive me…please."

The slight crack in her voice was enough to snap Toushiro out of his anger. He looked down in shock to see that there was a single tear working its way down her cheek, leaving a damp path behind it. He sighed as he reached forward, catching the droplet on his fingertip.

"Hey, don't get upset. Of course I forgive you, you didn't even do anything wrong. It was just me being stupid and childish." He pulled her close, holding her to his chest tightly as she tried to move even closer to him.

"But, this is like the fourth time you've gotten angry at me. I must be doing something…"

"No, no, I'm just confused" he chuckled coldly, as though he were laughing at his own stupidity, "I don't handle confusion well."

She pulled away from his chest so she could look directly into his eyes. "What are you confused about? Maybe I can help…"

"Just… us." He shrugged nonchalantly.

"Us?"

"Yeah, what are we?"

"Um, Human?" Karin supplied unhelpfully as she cocked her head to the side in thought.

"No, I mean _Us_." He explained, motioning to the two of them. "I mean, are we a couple, are we just close friends? Damn, sometimes you treat me like I'm nothing more than a lodger, a stranger you've let stay in your house." His voice had begun to rise and he forced himself back down to his normal volume. "I just… don't know any more."

"Well, what do you want us to be?"

"You already know what I want us to be," He pulled her closer and kissed her cheek to demonstrate his feelings, "I want to know how _you_ feel… I know you might still be angry, and I understand that, but…" He trailed off, looking at her hopefully.

"Don't be silly, of course I love you." She paused for a moment, averting her eyes from him before she continued. "But, even though I know it wasn't your choice to leave, and there was nothing you could have done about it, I'm still…" She couldn't finish her sentence and instead settled for examining the teapot on the table, refusing to meet Toushiro's eyes.

"You're still what?" Toushiro asked, slightly panicked as he pulled her even closer.

"I'm still… scared. That I'll lose you again… That the next time you leave you won't come back." She couldn't bear the idea of getting close to him once again only for him to leave for good. There were tiny tear-tracks racing down her face by this point and Toushiro took it upon himself to gently wipe them away, soothing her with soft words as he tried to kiss a smile back onto her lips.

"I'll always come back; I'll never leave you alone." He was whispering tenderly into her ear as the tears finally stopped. "As long as you can stand having me around, I'll always come back."

They stayed like that for what could have been anywhere between a minute and an eternity, Toushiro didn't know. But he held her close as her tears dried and her breathing returned to normal. He only let her go when he felt her pushing insistently against his chest.

"Let me go, some of us actually have work to do you know." She continued squirming until he let her go with a sigh.

"And we were having such as sweet moment; you had to go and ruin it, didn't you?" Despite his words Toushiro's tone was light and he was smiling brightly at the woman he loved. "Do you need any help in the clinic today? It's not like I have anything to do around here."

"Yeah, sure, I mean if you want…" She shrugged dismissively, refusing to admit that she _really did_ want him to come and help her. Her days spent alone in the clinic since her Father had left had been some of the loneliest of her life, seeing the building which was usually filled with bustling life practically empty made her sad.

Karin found another hand entwining with her own before tugging her towards the clinic. "And anyway, if there are gaps between your patients you'll need something to distract you." He smirked down at her and she just rolled her eyes in response before her control broke and a huge grin spread across her face. She stood on her tip-toes and planted a kiss on his cheek before taking the lead.

"Well come on then, the faster we treat people then more likely we'll get to have _breaks._" She winked suggestively and pulled him through the clinic door.

* * *

As it turned out, they were very busy that day. They barely had time to sit down let alone spend time together. Toushiro had to admit he was disappointed. He wanted to spend some more time with Karin before he had to go back to soul society but there always seemed to be something in the way. But by the end of the day the only contact they'd had was their conversation that morning and a few lingering looks across the clinic when the flow of patients slowed.

Toushiro was sat back in his seat at the dinner table, waiting for Karin to finish seeing off her last patient- an old woman who was looking after her granddaughter. He heard her saying her goodbyes, a door closing softly and then the distinct sound of someone slumping against wood in exhaustion. He left the room to find her sitting in the hallway, her back to the door and her head resting gently on her knees. He sat down beside her and smiled when she wriggled across to lean her head on his shoulder.

She whined in complaint when he pulled her into his arms; she'd just gotten comfortable. Her protests stopped promptly when he stood up. She clung to him desperately as he climbed the stairs, entering her room and laying her gently on her bed before removing her shoes. He pulled the thick duvet over her body and sat down beside her, stroking her hair soothingly as she tried to fight off sleep.

"I can't go to sleep now, I'm supposed to working at Tatsuki's tonight." She argued.

"I'll call in sick for you, she'll understand."

"But, what if there's a hollow attack. You can't do anything the way you are at the moment." Her voice was growing quieter as she began to drift.

"Matsumoto can do something for once. All she's done since we got here is go shopping."

"But what if there's an accident and they need me in the clinic… It does look like it's going to rain, that means there's more of a chance of-"

Her voice was cut off by Toushiro's lips. It was as though they had created a block to stop any more words from breaking free. He drew back and smiled at her. "If it's that big of an emergency then they can go to the hospital, if not then they can wait till tomorrow."

"But, what if…?" Toushiro covered her mouth with his hand this time, leaving his lips free to chastise her softly.

"Karin, just take a break. Have an early night, catch up on your sleep. Even I can tell you're worn out and I haven't even been here for two weeks." He removed his hand, instead slipping it up to her temple, rubbing away a headache he couldn't possibly have known about. "Just sleep, okay? For me?"

"Okay, for you." She snuggled further under the duvet and closed her eyes. Despite her mouth being covered by the material Toushiro could tell she was smiling by the way her eyes crinkled slightly at the corners. "Love you 'Shiro…" She whispered into the semi-darkness of the early-October evening.

"Love you too." He said as he continued massaging her temples until he was sure she was sound asleep. Then he went to make the appropriate phone-calls for Karin and some tea for himself.

* * *

Karin awoke to the sound of disturbing silence, her dream from moments ago still lingering at the front of her mind. Images of Toushiro bruised and broken, lying at her feet as she found herself powerless to help him plagued her mind. She desperately scanned the room but upon finding it empty her sleep-muddled brain did the only thing it could.

It panicked; Karin curled into a ball against the wall and sobbed quietly. Fear that he had died, was injured, or had just outright left caused her body to be wracked with near-painful tremors. She hid her face from the world and at the sound of her door opening quietly she only buried herself even further.

Toushiro stood stock-still for a moment as he took in the image of the sobbing woman but quickly recovered himself and moved to her side. He pulled her close, gripping her tight in an attempt to bring her back to reality.

She looked up at him in wonder. He was _alive_ and he was _here_, and that was all that mattered to her at that moment as she pulled him down for a deep, desperate kiss. He cradled her head in one hand as the other ran up and down the length of her spine before settling on her hip.

When they pulled apart they were both breathing hard, Karin could feel her heart threatening to burst out of her chest as Toushiro looked down at her with the smallest hint of a smirk on his lips. "What was that for?"

"I just…" She looked away, finishing the sentence in one quick burst. "Iwasafraidyou'dleftforgood."

Toushiro's eyes thawed slightly from their usual iciness, softening as he watched her still-trembling shoulders. "I'd never leave without saying goodbye. And I'd always come back, remember that." He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "Okay?"

"I know. It's just that I can't help it." Her eyes swung back round to meet his. "I don't want to lose you again."

"You won't. I'll always be here to protect you."

"Well, you're not doing much protecting at the moment. Next doors cat is more dangerous than you when you're stuck inside your gigai." She poked his chest as her sarcastic, cheeky side bit back gently.

"Well, if you're feeling better then I'll leave you to get back to sleep." He moved to stand up but she grabbed his hand. "No, could you… you know…" She blushed brightly before smiling up at him shyly. "Do you want to stay with me tonight?"

He kissed her sweetly, smiling against her lips. "How could I say no?"

* * *

Over the next few days they grew ever closer, but the impending separation hovered over them like a wedge in their relationship. It felt like no time at all before they got the call from Matsumoto to tell them that Urahara had come back and it was almost time to return to soul society. They left Karin's house with their heads low and their hands clasped tightly together. It was the only contact between them; they didn't speak or touch in any other way and yet they felt closer in those moments before being torn apart again than they had since the moment Toushiro had woken up in the clinic.

As they approached the shop Toushiro sighed and pulled her round to face him. "I need to tell you this now, in case we don't have time later." He cupped her face in his hands and pecked her nose lightly. "I _will_ come back. Don't worry about anything because whatever it takes I will make sure that I take every single opportunity to be near you. Even if it means taking the very worst jobs, it'd all be worth it if only I could be closer to you."

"Toushiro…"

He kissed her heatedly before smiling sadly at her and tugging at their still-entwined hands. "Come on, we need to go."

When they entered the shop Karin surprised Toushiro by launching herself across the room- towards her teacher who was sat facing away from them, a cup of tea clutched in his hands. She forcefully pushed his face down to meet the table, although she had to admit she was amazed by the speed at which he had managed to put his drink down on the ground to prevent any spillages. But any level of skill, no matter how impressive, was going to distract her from her point.

"What exactly did you think you were doing? He almost died." Her voice was hushed, only Karin, Toushiro and Urahara would ever know the conversation took place.

"Ah, yes. Vice-captain Rangiku told me about that, quite unfortunate." He seemed completely unperturbed by the incredibly angry woman currently pressing his face into his antique hardwood table and continued nonchalantly. "But as I told the good captain, it _is_ only a prototype. There were sure to be some minor glitches."

"**Minor!**" She screeched in his ear. "You call someone almost being eaten by a hollow 'minor'?"

"Karin, it's okay. I'm fine, and as he said, it was only a prototype. It was just bad luck, it's not like he was trying to kill me or anything…" Toushiro finished with a nervous chuckle as Urahara sent him a spine-tinglingly creepy smile. _*I think…*_ He added in his mind, although he refrained from saying it out loud- he'd just gotten Karin to calm down.

The black haired woman had begrudgingly released the blonde man and now he was approaching Toushiro rapidly. "Let me have a look, I'm sure I can get you out of there in a jiff." Urahara grabbed his wrist and dragged him from the room, leaving behind a rather confused looking Karin who eventually just shrugged it off and went in search of Rangiku.

In Urahara's lab Toushiro quickly found himself back in his own body. He wasn't even sure how the ex-captain had done it but he was glad to be free of the restricting confines on his soul. "How did you do…"

He was cut off by Urahara's uncharacteristically sharp words splitting the air. "You'd better not have hurt her or next time I'll make sure you don't even have a chance."

Toushiro balked for a moment before he caught up with what the blonde man was saying. "Of course I haven't hurt her; she's the most important thing to her. The only reason I left in the first place was to protect her."

Suddenly Urahara's usual sunny personality was back, "I'm glad to hear it. Now we'd better get back, I'm sure your lieutenant wants to get home soon." He practically skipped down the hallway and Toushiro groaned, what was with that man? He followed at a much more sensible pace and found himself in the basement/training room. A gate was already set up and it was so reminiscent of the last time that for a moment Toushiro started to panic. Was this really okay? Could he really just leave her here again?

_*But it's different this time, you know that you're coming back and she knows why you're leaving.*_ He smiled at Karin as he jumped down the last few rungs of the ladder. She frowned at him and shook her finger angrily.

"You shouldn't do that, your injury's still not completely healed." She ran her hands down his chest as though she would be able to feel any problems through his clothes.

He sighed, "Stop worrying so much, I'm fine." He looked over at where Rangiku was waiting by the open gate and then back to Karin. "I need to go."

"I know."

Neither of them seemed to move but Karin was suddenly captured within a set of strong arms, held tightly as soothing hands stroked her hair. "I love you." The words were a whisper only for her and she found herself smiling like an idiot as he pulled back and, without another word, turned away.

It wasn't until he was almost through the gate that she snapped out of her happy daze and managed to answer.

"Toushiro!" He turned back to her, a smile lighting up just his eyes as the other half of his face set itself into his professional mask. "Me too!"

The cryptic message caused his mask to break and he grinned at her. "Glad to hear it!" He shouted back before turning away and walking quickly through the gate.

* * *

**A/N **bonus chapter just coming, It'll be up very very soon :D


	13. Bonus chapter

**A/N **Hello, and welcome to the "chapters which would have been out at Christmas if I could get my act together" game. This is a bonus chapter I originally wrote to release in the week between christmas and new year, but it didn't really work out because I worked out that for it to work properly I had to write chapter 12 first. That took a lot longer than planned. But it's done now so I'm happy :)

Anyway, this is set a few months after chapter 12. Toushiro has come back to visit Karin a few times since then but can only get a certain amount of time off because of his position so they have to make the most of the time they have. Or they would if Matsumoto didn't keep getting in the way.

Did I ever mention that I _love _Rangiku, she's just sooo fun to write. In this chapter I also got to introduce another of my favourite characters, Yumichika. ;D You've got to love him :)

Anyway, please enjoy, comments etc. are greatly appreciated :)

**

* * *

Bonus chapter**

* * *

*…* = thinking  
"…" = speaking 

* * *

Karin let out a contented sigh as she allowed herself to melt into Toushiro's arms. They were lying on the sofa, the TV on low in the background as he held her close against his chest and smiled happily. He looked down at her as she nuzzled further into his shoulder, her face almost completely hidden.

He reached down and lifted her chin so they looked eye-to-eye. "Are you sure you want to stay in? I mean, it's New Year's Eve; wouldn't you rather be spending time with your friends than with me?"

"Yes, I'm sure." She leant up and pecked him on the lips before resting her forehead against his with a small smile playing across her lips. "I don't get to keep you for long enough for me to give up even one day; the guys will understand. I'd rather just stay here with you; maybe go up to the roof to watch the fireworks later…"

"Sorry I'm not here more often…" He mumbled, Karin didn't think she would have been able to hear him if she hadn't been only an inch from his lips. "I'll make it up to you." He volunteered with a grin.

"You bet you will!" She grinned back at him before diving in for a long, sweet kiss; her hand tangling through thick, silver-white hair as she felt strong arms snake their way around her waist. She pressed herself closer to him, deepening their kiss just enough that when the front door slammed back on its hinges she couldn't jump away immediately.

She closed her eyes shut, half-expecting her dad to be wailing about his daughter's soiled innocence, or perhaps even worse- to find her fuming big brother standing in the doorway.

But it wasn't either of these; it wasn't even Yuzu, who had been round for Christmas and could have quite possibly left something behind. (When she thought about it that was a lot more likely than her dad who was currently supposed to be somewhere in India or Ichigo, who she wasn't even sure was on Earth.)

No, the reality was much, much worse.

In her doorway stood a certain, already-tipsy, red-headed lieutenant, flanked by several of her (nervous-looking) comrades. And then she did something which made Karin both admire her and fear for the vice-captain's life.

She strutted into the room, looked down at the two on the sofa and promptly broke into her own- more adult- version of 'Captain and Karin sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G'. She didn't get any further than the second line before Karin found herself deposited on the floor and the white-haired man she had been embracing until moments ago now moving quickly towards his lieutenant.

"MATSUMOTO!"

"Eep!"

Karin didn't even have to look to know what was going to happen next,_ *5, 4, 3, 2, 1…* _

*CRASH*

The sound of Rangiku hitting the same pots she hit every time she came for a visit reverberated around the room. Karin sighed in exasperation.

"Can you two at least _try_ and act your ages, however old you actually are…" Karin asked curtly as she primly sat herself back on the sofa, facing away from the two offending shinigami.

"Well, I'm not much older than you." Toushiro supplied. "Although _she_" he started, pointing in Rangiku's direction "Is so old we're starting to worry about her going senile." He ducked Matsumoto's swipe and moved back to stand beside Karin, a smug look on his face.

Karin dropped her face into her hands, "You two are hopeless…" She mumbled with a shake of her head. Recently they'd been acting less like two of the top shinigami currently working and more and more like bickering siblings.

"And you," She said in the calm-but-scary voice she usually saved for children who were being particularly badly-behaved at Tatsuki's. She had turned so that she was kneeling on the sofa looking over the back of it. Toushiro had quickly found himself nose-to-nose with his rather annoyed girlfriend and was almost visibly wilting under her steely gaze. "You should know better, you're a _captain_ for Pete's sake! Try acting like it."

Toushiro hung his head, "Sorry, Karin."

She felt her expression soften as she looked down at the man, "It's okay, dear." He looked up at her and smiled hopefully.

The sweet moment was shattered by the sound of snickering coming from the still-open doorway. "Captain Toushiro's whipped!" The mumble was followed by another round of laughter which quickly stopped when Toushiro looked up at them, his expression murderous.

"I am not…" His voice growled softly as he focused his gaze on the small group, trying to work out who had spoken.

Karin couldn't miss the opportunity. "Yes you are." She said bluntly, letting her eyes wander to Toushiro's, which had widened comically. He looked at her earnestly as he silently begged her not to do what she was doing. But she was relentless; the way she saw it was that if he was going to act like a child then she would treat him like a child, and children needed discipline.

"Fine." He humphed; his arms crossed over his chest tightly as he pouted at her.

Karin just rolled her eyes at him before looking back to Rangiku.

"So, what exactly did you want?"

The vice-captain just grinned at her, "We're having a party!"

"So what?"

"We're having a party _here_."

"You're having a party here… wait, **what**?"

"What? Are you going deaf or something?" Matsumoto could see that Karin was close to refusing, "Please, please, _pleeease_ Karin! We haven't got anywhere else to have our party and it's a _tradition_! Please Karin, if you do this I'll be your best friend!"

"Is that supposed to be an incentive…?" Karin looked across and met the puppy-dog-eyes Matsumoto was sending to her. She sighed. "I suppose you can stay…"

A cheer went up from the red-headed vice-captain, as well as some of the guys in the group gathered in the doorway.

"As long as you don't get too excited…" Karin's words were drowned out by Matsumoto's attempts to get everyone through the door at the same time; eventually they all ended up in a heap on the floor. Karin sighed, *_this is going to be a long night…_*

* * *

Karin found herself sat at the dining room table with a half-empty bottle clasped between her hands as she watched the small crowd which now filled her living room. Although she exuded a feeling of indifference her eyes were locked firmly on two people on the other side of the room; that damn woman was batting her eyelashes at _Karin's_ man. And that was dangerous. On the same level as willingly walking into a tiger's cage wearing an outfit made of raw meat and locking the door behind yourself.

Rangiku seemed to have noticed the tenseness of the younger woman and decided to try and sooth her the only way she knew how- with as much alcohol as she could carry. She staggered across the room and dropped six-or-seven full bottles on the table in front of the raven-haired girl.

Karin snapped out of her jealousy-fuelled death-stare at the sound of clanking bottles and looked up at the voluptuous vice-captain who now stood over her with her arms crossed across her chest and a disapproving look on her face.

Karin sighed, "What?"

"You're not enjoying yourself." The older woman managed to make it sound like an accusation.

"Should I be? You lot barge into my house, interrupt our evening," She looked over to where the other girl stood, still talking to Toushiro. "And now some _girl_ is hanging off of _my man!_"

Rangiku chuckled, "Hinamori? Don't worry; she's always like that. She won't try anything." She slapped the other girl on the back good-naturedly. "Anyway, after the little greeting you gave us, she'd probably be too scared to do anything which would put her on your bad side."

"Well then she'd better stop doing _that_." Karin muttered dangerously as the girl she now knew as Hinamori (She called her something much less appropriate in her head, let's just say it started with a B and rhymed with itch) wrapped her arms around her boyfriend and placed a playful kiss on his cheek.

Rangiku turned just in time to see the action and winced in anticipation of the explosion she was expecting from the seated girl.

It didn't come, what did come was a loud thump as Karin slammed her head against the table.

"Karin, what are you doing?"

"Trying to erase what I just saw, those sorts of negative thoughts won't do me any good!" She looked up momentarily before flesh hit wood once again.

The next time she raised her head Rangiku caught it, pulling it back so that they looked eye-to-eye. "So, is killing all your brain-cells going to do you 'any good'?" She asked, mimicking Karin's words from moments ago.

Karin just sighed, "I guess not…" She took a long gulp from her bottle, draining the remaining liquid before reaching for another.

"That's the spirit! Now come on, I have to introduce you to the gang!" Karin felt herself dragged out of her chair and narrowly avoided spilling her drink down her front.

* * *

Their first stop was a group of guys; Rangiku introduced them as four of her fellow vice-captains. They greeted her cheerfully before carrying on with their conversation, now careful to include the two women as they chatted easily. Karin found herself relaxing in the presence of the four men as they joked and messed around.

Despite that she couldn't stop her eyes from wondering towards where her boyfriend sat with the dark-haired girl, she even found herself biting her lip every time she touched him so that she wouldn't storm across the room and just knock the girl's lights out. She just about reached breaking point when Hinamori leaned in for another hug (although she was glad to see that Toushiro looked noticeably uncomfortable) and she would have said something had it not been for the tall red-head who stood beside her.

"Would you relax? She's not gonna eat him." Karin tried to follow the older woman's advice, but found that she couldn't focus on what the guys were saying. From the look which Rangiku was giving her she guessed that she had noticed her inattentiveness. The red-haired man (she thought Rangiku had introduced him as Renji) laughed at the two women's silent exchange.

"Calm down, Ran." Cogs began to turn in Karin's mind as the man spoke, she was sure she recognized him from somewhere… "After all, we did 'interrupt' them, after all. You can forgive her for being a bit tetchy." When he mentioned their 'interruption' he waggled his eyebrows suggestively. The two dark-haired guys laughed heartily along with their friend, the blonde just looked awkward as he shuffled in his place. Karin couldn't help but notice he kept glancing towards Toushiro and the girl as well; although his attention was less jealous and more infatuated.

As the others began chatting again Karin turned towards the jittery man. "If you like her just go and talk to her." Her voice was even and almost emotionless; she didn't feel the slightest bit guilty for using this man's obvious adoration for the dark-haired girl to get the woman away from her man. "Don't be a wuss all your life, if you want something then you've got to fight for it. If all you've got to do to have a chance with her is be brave enough to actually i_talk_/i to her then you should be thankful."

"Kaaa—riiin!" Rangiku sang happily as she came up behind her and looped her arm through the younger woman's. "Come on! There's still more people to meet."

"Oh, do I have to?" the black-haired girl whined as she was dragged away.

"Yes, it is important to know lots of people in soul society for when you come to stay with us permanently." She quoted happily and Karin suspected that it was something Urahara had said to her.

"Are you saying I'm going to die?"

"Eventually. Everyone dies eventually…" She looked the other woman up and down for a moment, "Although you have to admit you're in the line of fire a lot more often than most people…"

"Hmph"

Suddenly her arms were filled with a sobbing vice-captain "Oh Karin *sob* I don't want you to die. *sob*"

She patted the red-head's back awkwardly, "Um, don't worry Ran… I'm not planning on dying any time soon."

Rangiku magically popped back to being her usual happy self "Good, now _COME ON!_" Karin felt herself being tugged across the room and wondered whether someone had slipped something in the vice-captain's drink.

* * *

Matsumoto's headlong run stopped suddenly. Karin looked up at the older woman, dazed as she tried to get some feeling back into her shoulder after she was sure that Rangiku pulled it out of the socket with her tugging.

She sighed in exasperation as more names were thrown at her. "Karin, this is Ikkaku," She pointed to the bald man on their right, "And this is Yumichika." She indicated the flamboyant man with an over-exaggerated flourish. She looked up; both men were quite obviously very drunk.

Ikkaku approached her, watching her with only slightly drink-muddled eyes as he carefully surveyed her for any flaws. "I've heard you're a good fighter, although I can't see any proof of that. From here you just look like a little girl who couldn't even handle a…" His words were cut off as his arm was wrapped around his back and his face slammed into the floor.

Surprisingly he didn't counterattack, instead he just sat up and _laughed_. Karin looked shocked for a moment before she regained her calm and collected expression. "Ha! Nice one girl! I like you, just don't let the captain know you can fight like that or else he'll be after you like he's after your brother!" He was just about to continue when he was bowled over by his overly-sparkly colleague.

"Ran! You never said that she was so _pretty_!" Yumichika looked at her intently before turning back to Rangiku. "Now I'm going to have to change my list, Sorry Ran but I think you're going to have to share the place of second most beautiful with Karin."

Karin couldn't stop the words from slipping out, "Who's first?"

Yumichika turned to her with a wide gorgeous grin "Me of course!"

Rangiku giggled, Yumichika tittered happily, Ikkaku moaned from where he had been trampled into the carpet and for some reason Karin found herself laughing along with the man she had known for less than five minutes. Something about his attitude just made her feel happy, or maybe it was because he practically exuded prettiness. She didn't know, but she did know that she liked this man. They chatted for what seemed like hours but could also have been mere minutes. Time just seemed to fly by.

"Ha, it looks like your prince charming is missing your presence, Karin. Perhaps you should go and see him." Yumichika didn't give her an option as he linked one of his arms through hers and one through Rangiku's and propelled them across the room to where Toushiro stood with Hinamori, although they had now been joined by Kira and Hisagi which helped Karin relax a little.

She suddenly had the intense need to mark her property, to make it very clear that Toushiro was _hers_, and no-one else's. Once they were close enough she moved behind Toushiro and waited for just the right moment before she pounced. She wrapped her arms around Toushiro's back and leant over one shoulder before pecking his cheek affectionately.

"Hey"

"Hey you, where have you been hiding?"

"Ran was introducing me to everyone; I didn't think you'd mind since you had someone to talk to…" She waved her hand towards Hinamori. "Oh, how rude of me!" She put her hand out for the other girl to shake, although she was still wrapped around Toushiro in a way which was quite obviously making the dark-haired girl uncomfortable. She smirked, careful to put the perfect if-you-touch-my-boyfriend-again-I'll-scratch-your-eyes-out look on her face as their hands.

She smiled in satisfaction as the other girl stumbled over her words, "I-I'm Hinamori Mo-Momo. It's nice to me-meet you, Karin." She glanced around, seemingly in an attempt to find an escape route. "Um, I need to speak to Renji about something. Come on Kira!" And with that she dragged the blonde man away from the group and was soon lost in the crowd of people.

"I hope Kira doesn't mind being dragged away…" mumbled Hisagi as he watched his friend being tugged through the crowd.

Karin, Rangiku and Yumichika shared a look before bursting into laughter; the other two men looked confused as they watched the three friends slowly calming back down. "Ha, don't worry, he _really_ won't mind." Explained Rangiku between gasping breaths as the other two nodded in agreement.

"Why did they run off so quick anyway?" Asked the tattooed man after a moment of silence.

"Don't know, maybe Karin scared Hinamori…" Rangiku covered a snicker after her comment.

"Yeah, after all - hell knows no fury like that of a tipsy, jealous, territorial woman." After that Yumichika understood why Hinamori had fled, Karin's death-stare was truly terrifying.

"Oh, look at the time! We've only got five minutes before new-year! Guess we'd better go and find somewhere to watch the fireworks from." Rangiku supplied happily as she looped her arms through the other two men and turned around, strutting away after a quick wave goodbye aimed at Karin.

Toushiro turned so that Karin was held in his arms with him looking down at her, "Well? Shall we make our way to the roof?" He offered his hand to her and when she took it she felt herself being pulled into his arms, her feet left the ground and she was cradled in his arms- bridal style. She knew what to expect and squeezed her eyes shut as he flash-stepped them onto the roof.

Toushiro smiled down at the bundle in his arms before leaning in to tease her lips with his own. When he pulled away she was looking up at him with wide, happy eyes which made him want to never stop kissing her. Instead he settled onto the roof with her in his lap and quickly pulled the blanket he had stolen from the back of the sofa around their bodies. He grinned as she leant her head into his chest- this was how he wanted to spend new-years; in fact this was how he wanted to spend every day. He didn't need big crowds or hoards of friends, only her- always her.

Of course, it wasn't long before people started to have the same idea as them. First it was Hinamori and Kira, who noticeably sat as far away from them as possible on the small roof. Next to emerge were Iba, Renji and Yumichika, who were supporting a very drunk Ikkaku between them and proceeded to flop onto the roof (of course, Yumichika didn't flop, he descended gracefully.) Finally Hisagi and Rangiku made their appearance. Karin wasn't sure whether they were clinging to each other because of the amount of alcohol the two had put away or whether there was something going on, but she didn't have the time to ponder it as the fireworks began shooting into the air.

Toushiro didn't watch the fireworks, he much preferred to watch Karin as the light danced across her face and tiny gasps forced their way between her lips. He couldn't stop himself as the grand finale grew near; he pulled her close to him and pressed their lips together as colours flashed in the distance. She sighed and melted into his embrace, happy just to be held by him. She could feel him whispering something against her lips and, although she couldn't hear it, she knew exactly what he was saying.

"I love you."

* * *

**A/N** So, what did you think? :)


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: **Hey guys, here's the next chapter of forbidden for you, it would have been up sooner but I managed to fracture my wrist and wasn't able to type. But anyway, I'm not sure whether I like how this chapter came out, I was writing it in bits so I think it may feel a bit pieced together. I'll probably read through it again later on and make some changes if I don't like it (though the storyline will stay the same, just sentence structure and specific words will probably change if I don't like how they sound.)

So anyway, in this chapter we find out that Karin's got a secret, what is it? :P read it to find out.

I couldn't resist putting Ran in, she's just so much fun to write :D On another note, we're starting to reach the end of the story. There will probably be another 2 or 3 chapters after this one so it's not over yet :) I'm thinking about writing a sequel but I'll see what you guys think after I've finished the rest of the story. Trust me, I highly doubt it will end how you expect it to end XD

As always, reviews and comments make me the happiest fanfiction writer ever, even if it's just a smiley face. I'm not too sure about how this chapter came out so feedback would be good :D

And on with the show...

* * *

Chapter 14

* * *

*…* = thinking  
"…" = speaking

* * *

It had been eight months since the fateful day which finally brought Karin and Toushiro back together and Karin still found herself dreading the inevitable walk from her house to Urahara's store. She found herself avoiding the shop and its inhabitants as much as possible, cutting her training hours down whenever she could by using the excuse that the clinic had gotten even busier recently. But any amount of avoidance still couldn't stop the morning of their last day arriving in what seemed like minutes each time he visited. She had found herself hating the sight of his back as he stepped through the gateway back to his own world.

And yet, for every heart-wrenching goodbye there was an equally emotional hello. When he was on a mission he would visit her every evening and stay for as many days as he could get away with. They both knew that there was no way the captain-commander hadn't realised what was going on; Karin found herself waiting for the time when he didn't come to see her, but she knew deep down that they were in too deep for them to just stop seeing each other. Even if the Captain-commander tried only death would keep them apart.

Karin didn't want to think about that, it had been almost two months since his last visit and she was beginning to get worried- the longest he had been away before was three weeks. At first she hadn't wanted to fear the worst but now tendrils of doubt were beginning to sneak into her mind and she was having a hard time pushing them away.

She sighed heavily and rolled out of bed, there was no way she would be able to sleep any time soon. She was restless, her entire body thrummed with energy as she began her regular routine of pacing through every room of the house. The monotonous surroundings soothed her and when she finally began to drift and made her way back to her own room she would almost be able to put the image in her mind. The image of her family gathered around the dinner table. Or her father working in the clinic. Yuzu would chase him down occasionally with a cup of tea and scolding words about not resting enough. Ichigo would be sprawled on the sofa as he flicked through TV channels with a disinterested look on his face. But they would all smile and wave when she got back home. Somehow the thought made her happy and sad at the same time.

She didn't know when but at some point she must have made it back to her own room because when she woke up she was snuggled deep beneath the covers with the slightest rays of sunlight teasing at her sleepy eyes through a gap in the curtains. She yawned, stretching her arms high above her head before tossing her bedside-clock a glance. 9 am. Not too bad, considering she'd been up almost all night. She stomped downstairs, a nice strong cup of tea was just what she needed right now.

She didn't even notice the other presence in the room until she had put the kettle on to boil. She rested her elbows on the counter, her weary eyes wondering to the right, watching a bird which had landed on the tree outside the window. She jumped when someone spoke from behind her.

"Don't I get a cup of tea?"

Although if she looked back on it she would deny it profusely, Karin jumped a foot in the air at the sound of the unexpected voice in her kitchen. She whipped around, her sleep-weary state dulling her senses and denying her access to the knowledge she needed to identify the familiar voice.

At her kitchen table, with a huge cheek-splitting grin across her face, sat Rangiku. When Karin didn't respond she waved a hand in front of her face, "Helloooo, Earth to Karin. Anyone in there?"

Karin blinked several times before returning to herself. For a moment she had allowed herself to hope that the unexplained presence in the room was a certain white-haired captain. She sighed and moved to begin making another cup of tea. "Hey Rangiku, What are you doing here?" She didn't even bother asking how the vice-captain had gotten into her house, since the first time all those months ago she had begun turning up at seemingly random times. _*At least she's sober this time.* _She thought to herself as she brought the steaming cup over to the redheaded woman. She sat down opposite her before offering her an expectant look.

"I'm playing messenger." She smiled as she saw Karin's eyes light up unconsciously. "The captain's been sent on an extended mission, he doesn't know when he's getting back so he sent me this to give to you." She waved an envelope in front of the younger girl's eyes with a flourish; from where she was sat Karin could see her name written in familiar handwriting across the almost-white paper. She instinctively reached for the tiny lifeline to Toushiro.

She didn't pause, the envelope was open in seconds and her eyes were glued to the paper. At first the words ran into each other; she revelled in the sight of the scratchy-neat script which stretched across the page, she could almost imagine Toushiro as he was writing it- hand working quickly across the page as he chewed his bottom lip. She smiled at the image it raised in her mind- so like him, he would have wanted it to be perfect.

Her eyes were already brimming with tears when she began reading:

_ Karin. I miss you. I can't believe how long it's been since I last saw you. I want to beside you right now, but I can't. Believe me, if I could leave this mission I would do it right now and come and see you. _

_Sadly, I'm needed here. I know you'll have been worrying about me but I'm fine. I'm not planning on being taken down anytime soon. You have to stay strong for me, okay? You're not allowed to become like some normal simpering little girl. You're strong, that's what attracted me to you in the first place, and you have amazing power despite the odds. Use that power; keep Karakura town safe and I'll be back before you know it._

_I love you and if it were up to me I wouldn't spend a single moment away from your side. But fate has conspired against us; a weaker man would give in and give up. But you are worth any and all effort I have to put into this relationship and I don't plan on letting you get away from me now. _

_I miss you so much and I will see you soon. _

_Toushiro x  
_

Karin's tears stained the page, accompanying identical older stains which surrounded the writing. Rangiku looked on with a sad smile on her face- this was the girl who had finally managed to pull her captain out of his shell. She had been by Toushiro's side as his lieutenant for over ten years now and had been the one to find him all that time ago. It was almost impossible to recognize the tiny little troublemaker she had found in Rukongai when she looked at the man who had become one of the most powerful and respected captains in the history of Soul society.

She watched as Karin's eyes darted back and forth across the page, reading and re-reading the note until the words were ingrained inside her mind. Rangiku lost track of how long they were sat there, but it was easily long enough for Karin's untouched tea to go cold. When Karin finally seemed to have recovered enough to respond properly she looked up to meet Rangiku's kind gaze; she felt as though she was waking up from a dream.

"So, um," Karin began, hastily wiping dampness from her eyes with the edge of her sleeve, "What are you doing all the way out here? I would have thought that you would be looking after the tenth division whilst Toushiro's away."

"Ha! The captain doesn't trust me to do my work properly, so he asked Hisagi to keep an eye on me." Karin raised an eyebrow at that; since new-years even Karin knew about the attraction between the two lieutenants, surely Toushiro wouldn't make such a rookie mistake. Rangiku grinned sheepishly beneath Karin's gaze before jumping to explain herself. "Okay, so originally it was supposed to be Kira, but with a little persuading I managed to get him to ask Hisagi to take over."

"Oh, really? And exactly how much work have you gotten done?" Karin asked playfully, her hands unconsciously running across the paper in front of her.

"No less than if he hadn't been there." The redhead responded with a giggle.

"So, none then?" Asked the younger woman, cocking her head to the side cheekily.

"Haha, you know me so well Karin!" Rangiku smiled down into her empty tea-cup for a moment before glancing back up at the black-haired girl. A small grin graced the girl usually sombre face; the lieutenant had to admit that seeing the naturally happy expression on the other woman's face made her feel warm inside. The girl had gone through a lot to get to where she was today. She was just glad to see that, at least from where she stood, it seemed to have been worth it.

Rangiku folded her hands beneath her chin, propping her elbows up on the table. "You seem really happy today. And not just because of my special delivery either." Curiosity lit her joyfully childish eyes. "Sooo, what's going on?"

Karin glanced around the room conspiratorially before leaning across the table to whisper in Rangiku's ear. The redhead's expression changed from confusion to concentration, then to surprise and finally to completely unbridled joy. She practically dove across the table as she moved to pull the younger girl into her embrace.

"Awww, I'm so proud of you!" She held Karin tightly against her chest, slowly crushing the girl as she showed her overzealous affection in the only way she knew how. At some point whilst squashing her friend she managed to catch sight of the time over the black-haired girl's shoulder. "Oh dear, is that the time! Ahh, I've really got to get going or even Hisagi won't let me off." She was sure to give the younger girl one last affectionate squeeze before letting her go.

"Well, I need to be off. I'll see you around yeah?" She turned to leave but found herself held back by a small weight on her back. She turned her head to find Karin clutching her tightly, her face buried between her shoulder blades. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Ran, do you really think it's okay? I mean, do you think we'll be okay?"

Rangiku turned in the other's arms and pulled her away from her body so she could look into her eyes. The dark pair which stared back at her were damp, but she knew that Karin was just too stubborn to let the unshed tears fall when someone else was around. So instead of wiping away her tears she settled for being the older sister the girl so desperately needed.

"Karin, you and Toushiro are both strong. I honestly think you could go through anything and still find your way back to each other. You were meant to be together and I'm sure that no matter what life throws at you next you can get through it together." She lifted the younger girl's chin before tapping her playfully on the nose, "Now, chin up. The captain could be back any time and you don't want him finding you in a mess like this now, do you?" She grinned as the younger girl shook her head, unable to speak. "That's the spirit! Now, I'm off. I'll see you around."

Karin walked with her to the front door, as she turned to leave she heard a tiny murmur from behind her. "Thank you." Rangiku smiled at the sound, but she didn't respond. Karin had taken enough of a bruise to her ego to accept any more pity- that was something she'd learned from her years with the captain.

After Rangiku's departure Karin found herself in a daze. She completed her usual day-to-day tasks, working in the clinic with a smile on her face despite all the worries flying around in her head. By the time lunch came she was just about ready to go back to bed- it was exhausting to keep up a positive outward show when her mind was in such disarray. Luckily for her it was a Wednesday, which meant the clinic shut at 12. She let herself flop down on the sofa in front of the TV, refusing to allow her thoughts drift to how much easier working in the clinic had been when she had had someone else there to help her.

At least this afternoon she was helping at Tatsuki's, she would be able to blow off a bit of steam and see some of her favourite students at the same time. After she finished her lunch she decided on a quick shower before a surprise visit to Urahara's. It had been so long since she'd last had a proper training session with Kurohime that she was starting to feel a little rusty.

She was met with the usual reception; kindly silence from Ururu and Tessai, sarcasm and support from Urahara and the inevitable never-ending spiel of abuse from Jinta. She blocked the majority of it out; she found it much more satisfying to hit things for the remainder of the afternoon. Especially if those things were Jinta shaped. As five o'clock approached she bid a hasty farewell to the occupants of the shop, shot one final biting insult in Jinta's direction, and left in the direction of Tatsuki's school.

"What do you mean 'go home'? You need me here!" Karin was fuming, what did Tatsuki think she was doing?

"I mean that although you are quite capable to look after yourself, at the moment you are too vulnerable to be surrounded by small, energetic children who like to punch things." Tatsuki smiled sadly at Karin, "You know this is for the best, Karin. I would offer to let you work in the office but I know you wouldn't be able to resist joining in. And I'm willing to bet my life that the one time you join in something would happen."

Karin dropped her head; as much as she hated to admit it Tatsuki was right. "Okay then, but if I'm not allowed to work here then you've got to come and visit me often enough to make up for it."

"Ha, of course. And don't worry; you'll be back before you know it." Tatsuki sent her off with a wave before turning to greet the first of her arriving students.

Karin sunk into her sofa for the second time that day, her hand absently switching between channels even as her brain switched off. She probably sat there for over two hours, staring at some mindless drama on the screen in front of her. After she felt suitably tired she managed to lug herself up the stairs and fell into her bed, still fully clothed, before slipping into a restless sleep.

When she woke up it was pitch black, she could hear rain crashing against her window and it took her a moment to realize that she felt a breeze on her exposed feet. When she did she jumped into action, scrambling against the headboard and grasping whatever was in her reach. Then she sat, ready for whatever was going to jump out at her.

A sudden flash of lightning silhouetted a figure against the backdrop of the billowing curtains. For a moment the breath caught in her throat, maybe this was it; maybe she wasn't going to get out of this one. Then another flash brought colour to the scene before her. Silvery-white hair hung damply around deep turquoise eyes. Her breath caught for a completely different reason to before.

It was Toushiro, he was here and he was safe. Paying no heed to the fact that her lover was currently soaked through to the skin she threw herself at him. He eagerly caught her and their lips sealed together in what Karin believed may have been the most perfect kiss ever. She sighed as they drew apart. He still held her close to his body; she could feel the warmth radiating from him despite the wet clothes which hung from him.

They stayed like that for a moment before Toushiro tapped her on the head playfully, "What exactly were you planning on doing with that?" He asked, pointing to the plastic alarm clock she still held in her hand.

"Well you shouldn't have been sneaking in through my window then, stupid." She chastised, though since she punctuated each word with a small peck to his nose the scolding was unlikely to have much effect. "Now," She started, clapping her hands together. "You need to go and have a shower, you might be a shinigami but you could still catch a cold if you sat there dripping like that. I'll bring you some dry clothes, okay?" She smiled at him and he thought that he physically felt his heart swell.

Half an hour later Karin was comfortably wrapped in the arms of her, now dry, boyfriend as they both slowly drifted into sleep. He pressed one final kiss to her forehead as they both began drifting; she smiled in response before nuzzling further into his chest. Toushiro's only response was to tighten his arms around his sleepy lover and let himself fall into one of the most restful sleeps he'd ever had.

Toushiro was woken up by the sound of retching coming from the bathroom next door. He quickly scrambled out of bed and into the other room only to find Karin resting her burning forehead against the rim of the toilet in a vain attempt to cool herself down.

Toushiro was not usually one to be proud about his expertise in dealing with illness but he had to admit that after living with Rangiku as a lieutenant he had picked up a few tips and (despite most of his experience being with illness of a more self-inflicted nature) he thought he could probably help.

He knelt in front of Karin and offered her a glass of water, "Here, clean out your mouth and then we'll get you cleaned up and back to bed for a bit." He smiled at her reassuringly and she took the cup from his hands.

He quickly stood up and grabbed two face-cloths which had been folded up in the tiny linen cabinet under the sink, he soaked the first in warm water and the second in cool before turning back to Karin. She'd just finished cleaning out her mouth and was looking at him with a lost expression which made him want to gather her up and protect her from anything which may try and hurt her. He didn't, instead he knelt back in front of her and began cleaning her face with the warm cloth when he was done he placed a kiss on her brow before tossing the cloth in the sink to be cleaned later.

"Do you think you're going to be sick again?" He asked kindly, careful to keep his voice low enough not to aggravate any headache she may have. After a moment's thought she shook her head slightly. Toushiro smiled and gently lifted her into his arms; he was surprised to find her slightly heavier than before, though she didn't look it.

Once they were back in her room he settled her in the bed and sat down beside her. When he checked her for a temperature he found her only slightly warm, he hid the sigh of relief and placed the cool cloth on the forehead. He smiled as he watched her visibly relax at the cool touch. For a while he was happy to just watch her rest as he played with her hair, but something was shouting in the back of his mind, begging him to ask her what had happened. He'd never seen her ill before and it made him worry.

"Hey, Karin?"

"Hmm?" She asked, opening one eye to look at him sleepily.

"What happened? You seemed fine last night…" He was twirling a strand of dark hair around his finger but he had to let go when she moved to sit up. He helped her into the position and then sat beside her, both of their backs to the headboard. Karin let herself lean slightly on the broader shoulders of the white-haired captain.

"Well, it's a long story but…" She turned to see him looking at her expectantly, "I guess I can just give you the short version for now." She moved herself again so that they were facing one another and Toushiro was surprised to see a huge grin splitting Karin's face as she spoke her news out loud to the one person she had been waiting to tell.

She took his hands in hers and smiled happily "Toushiro, I'm… I'm pregnant."

* * *

**A/N: **okay guys, so I know I usually don't write an author's note at the end of chapters but I had to say some bits which couldn't be said at the beginning without giving anything away, so what do you think of Karin's big surprise? Don't worry, the story is far from over and it won't turn into a pregnancy fic. Also, I tried really hard to keep Toushiro in character whilst writing the letter but it was really hard because I can't really see him as being one to ever write a love letter. I hope it turned out okay and you all enjoyed the chapter, see you next time :D


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: **I'm so tired, it's after midnight here and I've got college in the morning so I'll make this author's note short. Thank you guys for sticking with this story even though I didn't update for so long. You guys are great :D If you didn't know why I haven't been updating then I'll leave the note on my page up for a little bit longer. This actually isn't where I was planning to end the chapter originally, but it just kept growing and before I knew it it was the longest chapter so far by a fair amount (I think it was like 500 words or something.) Anyway, it just means that you'll get one more chapter than I had originally planned so yay for that.

As always, please review, it keep me writing even through the hard times and you guys are the best xxx

* * *

Chapter 15

* * *

_She took his hands in hers and smiled happily "Toushiro, I'm… I'm pregnant."_

* * *

Karin had to admit that Toushiro's gob-smacked expression was somewhat endearing, but she had kind of been hoping for a more enthusiastic response. It had been almost a minute since she had told him and he still hadn't uttered a word, just sat there looking shocked. She was a starting to consider smacking him – just to get his attention back, of course – when he seemed to finally snap out of it. He looked up at her, his expression thoughtful, and his eyes met hers before locking there.

He reached a hand out- tentative, as though she were an animal which would bolt at any moment- and rested it gently on her stomach. His thoughtful expression turned tender as he felt the tiny bump, barely noticeable unless you knew to look for it, beneath her huge t-shirt.

He chuckled quietly as he trailed his hand up her side and neck before allowing it to rest on her cheek, his thumb stroking smooth circles into her skin. "I didn't even notice, I guess that just proves how unobservant I am."

Karin found herself giggling along with him; "Well, you haven't exactly had much of a chance to notice." She suddenly stilled – her eyes locking with Toushiro's. "I'm glad you're back, I missed you." She turned her face into his hand, gaining comfort from such a simple touch.

"I missed you too." He sighed deeply, his head dropping so that their foreheads rested together lightly. "I just wish I could be around more, especially now. I want to be here for you, for both of you." He rested his hand on her stomach once again. "I'm going to do my best to be here as often as I can, but you have to promise me that you won't take any stupid risks, okay? I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you."

"That doesn't matter because I'm not going anywhere and I'm not risking our baby over something small. I trust the shinigami and all the others to take care of any hollows which turn up." She stopped speaking when she saw the look in Toushiro's eyes. "Hey, what's up?"

"Our baby. That's _our baby_." He shook his head, as though to clear it. "I still can't believe it, we're having a baby!" He caught her lips in a sweet kiss before standing up and starting to pace. Karin just watched him from her place on the bed. "We'll have to get all the baby things, a pram, baby clothes, bottles. We'll need a nursery to put all the baby things in. We'll need a house to put the nursery in. Isn't that house across the road up for sale? That would be perfect, wouldn't it? We'd have our own space but you'd still be close to your family. What about if we-"

"Whoa, slow down! You keep thinking that fast and you're going to hurt yourself." She pulled him close to her, holding him soothingly. "We've got all the time in the world to sort those things out. For now, just come and lie down. I know you get tired after a mission."

"Fine." He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her temple. "Love you."

"Love you too."

* * *

Toushiro stood in front of the still-huge doors, amazed that even almost five years later the doors could still strike dread into his heart. He groaned- he really didn't want to be here, he'd much rather be with Karin. But if he didn't do this now then he could very well be putting Karin's life at risk, he knew he was already pushing it by waiting over a week to report in from a basic clean-up mission.

He pushed the doors, watching them swing open fully before he stepped into the giant room beyond, revealing the man who sat behind his desk at one end of the room. Toushiro bowed slightly- enough to seem respectful and gain the captain-commander's leniency, but not too much for it to seem strange. He hadn't truly bowed to the captain-commander for over four years.

"Captain Hitsugaya, it's nice to see you bothered to come back. I hope you have a good excuse." The old man steepled his fingers as he fixed his gaze on the younger shinigami.

"Yes, I do." Toushiro met his scrutiny with a straight back and confidence shining from his eyes.

"Oh, really? And am I going to be graced with this amazing excuse any time soon?"

"Karin…" He gathered his courage and forced the words out from between his lips. "Karin is pregnant. I need to look after her. I won't let you say no."

There was silence in the room; Toushiro shuffled his feet nervously as he waited for a response, any response. Then there was a sudden peal of laughter, followed by another. It grew and grew until it echoed loudly around the hollow room, creating multiple copies of itself over and over again.

Toushiro wasn't sure what to do. Was this good? Should he laugh as well, should he smile? Was the captain-commander mocking him? He was confused to say the least.

Once the commander was finished wiping his eyes he set them back onto Toushiro, his gaze was strong but there was a definite hint of affection deep within them.

"So, you want me to let you shirk your duties so that you can look after the woman who is carrying your child, who I explicitly told you not to see any longer? Why should I allow that?" His tone was like that of a favourite teacher- fond but patronising. Toushiro sucked up his pride and answered in a steady voice.

"Because I love her, and she needs me." He smirked at the older man "And because I'll do it anyway."

The captain-commander clapped his hands together. "Now that's what I like to see, a captain with guts- who's willing to stand up for himself and his beliefs." He smiled at the young captain. "Of course, I couldn't just let you off without any work for so long… How does being the new protector of Karakura town sound to you? It's not too demanding a job and you'll always be near your young lady."

"It sounds good, but what's the catch?"

"You'll need to check in every so often, say every month or so? And I'm only giving you a year's worth of full time there. After that you'll have to take up your position as captain once again, you can understand that we can't lose such a high-ranking officer for any longer than that." Toushiro nodded, he understood what the old man meant. "Also, if there is any sort of emergency here in soul society you must drop whatever you are doing and return to your division. In that sort of situation even a lieutenant as good as Matsumoto needs their captain. Do you understand the terms?"

"Yes, sir." Toushiro replied, saluting solemnly but celebrating inwardly. He turned to leave but was stopped by the Captain-commander's voice.

"Oh, and Captain Hitsugaya? You may want to stop by your division and tell them what is happening, though knowing your vice-captain they will all already know. And it might also be a good idea to inform Captain Kurosaki, from what I have heard he can be rather protective of his little sisters. Good luck."

"Of course, thank you sir." Toushiro's internal celebrations had turned to nervousness, of course he had planned on going to see his division, but the thought of having to face Ichigo (especially after his past experience with the over-protective brother side of the shinigami) made him seriously fear for his life.

"One final thing, captain." Toushiro looked up once again, his mind fuzzy as he desperately tried to think of a plan which would both inform Ichigo of the situation and keep his face intact. "Don't try to keep something like this from me again; I don't appreciate secrets kept by my captains. Next time I may not be so lenient."

* * *

Toushiro dropped into the seat behind his desk, glad that he had opted for the more comfortable choice when they redecorated his office last year. His brain was whirling, desperately grabbing for an idea.

He had to handle this carefully; he knew that getting on Ichigo's bad side- even more so than he already was- was a very bad idea. He had to tell him gracefully and in a way which would allow him to get out the whole story before the other captain snapped.

He sighed; it was all well and good saying that, but he still didn't have an actual plan.

A crash rang throughout the office, announcing the arrival of a particularly stressed looking redheaded lieutenant.

"Captain!" She looked around, her eyes desperate as they made a sweep of the room before coming to rest upon the confused-looking white haired man sat at one end of the room. "Oh, Captain! I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen! But it just got out of hand and before I knew it-"

Toushiro held out a soothing hand and pointed her towards a chair. "Matsumoto, slow down and tell me what happened."

She took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts as she let herself down into the seat.

"Okay, so when I went to give Karin your letter the other day I kinda found out about what's going on." Toushiro winced; he really hoped this wasn't going where he thought it was going. "And, I mean, I was a little bit excited. You can understand, right? This is a big deal!" He nodded in agreement but still held his face still as she continued her story.

"So when I got back I _really_ needed to tell someone, but I didn't want it to get out in case you guys wanted to keep it a secret. So when I ran into Kira and Momo I thought it was perfect, I mean Momo's one of your old friends and Kira barely ever talks to anyone so I was sure they wouldn't say anything. But…"

"Oh, not a but…" Toushiro murmured beseechingly.

"Well, Yumichika kind of turned up just as I was telling them and he may have over heard… I swore him to secrecy but he must have told Ikkaku, I mean they share everything and they both got on really well with Karin before. I'd guess that he forgot to tell him that it was supposed to be a secret because Hisagi told me that he was told by Ikkaku."

By this point Toushiro had his head in his hands; he knew exactly where this story was going, Hisagi was one of the biggest gossips in soul society he was just surprised that he hadn't put a segment in that paper of his.

"Well, Hisagi told Renji and you know how close Renji is to Rukia." Toushiro groaned, he didn't want to hear this. "You know that Rukia and Ichigo don't keep anything from each other anymore and I'm really sorry Captain. If I'd known that this was going to happen I would have never told anyone, I promise!"

"It's okay, Matsumoto. Don't worry." He let his hands drop from his face. "He was going to have to find out sooner or later, this was just a little bit sooner than I had planned. Do you know where he is, I'd rather sort this out now…"

"Umm, that's kind of the main reason why I came to see you. He heard you were back and he's on his way over here now… When I saw him he seemed a little bit-"

"Toushiro, get out here! I need to _talk_ to you."

The white-haired captain pushed away from his desk with an exhausted sigh, first the old man and now this, at this rate he'd need a nap before lunch. He reached for the door handle and pulled it open, expecting an earful of angry redhead.

Instead he got a faceful of fist. His mind didn't register what had happened until after he'd hit the floor several feet behind where he'd been standing before. Absently he noted that he'd probably have a black eye tomorrow.

He groaned, hauling himself up and dusting himself off. "Please, do come in, take a seat." He knew he was being sarcastic, but after that punch he didn't feel like being particularly nice to the other man.

Ichigo humphed and dropped into the seat opposite where Matsumoto sat, he glared at her as she sat wide-eyed. "Do you mind?"

She stumbled over her words as she rushed to answer " Umm, Captain, do you err want me to…?"

"Go on, I'll be fine." Toushiro offered her a reassuring smile which made his face ache slightly where he'd been hit, but it seemed to make her feel better so he took the pain gladly.

"Okay." She bowed her head in his direction before turning to Ichigo, "Captain Kurosaki." She inclined her head again before beating a hasty retreat from the room and shutting the door behind her.

As soon as the door clicked shut Ichigo was talking. "I thought you had more sense than this! I overlooked it when I heard that you were back together because I reckoned that since you two were older you would know what you were doing and would know not to take it too far. And then I hear about this!" He stared Toushiro down until he was forced to look away. "I trusted you with my sister and now look what happened… She's just a little girl! How could she possibly handle this on her own?"

"She's not on her own, she has me and I'm not planning on leaving her any time soon." Toushiro looked up so that his eyes met angry brown across the room. "And she's not a little girl anymore. She's almost twenty two! Maybe you would know that if you had actually gone to visit her!" He let his anger dissolve into the words as he thought about all the times when Karin had asked for Ichigo whilst waking up from a nightmare, every time she'd told him how much she missed him.

The room seemed to develop a sudden silence. "I, I just don't know how I'd face her now. I know I've not been a good big brother and I don't even know where I'd begin if I went back now…"

"If you weren't a good big brother then you wouldn't be here now, you've just got to find the time to go and see her. Look, I'm going back tomorrow. Come with me, I know she's been missing you and it would mean a lot for her to see you even if it's only for an hour or two. She just wants to be sure that you're safe."

"Hmm, I might take you up on that. Just, give me some time to think about it." He considered Toushiro for a moment, a smirk upon his lips. "And I suppose that out of all the people she could have ended up with there must be someone who would have been a worse choice for her. Somewhere."

"So, are we okay?" Toushiro asked hopefully, holding out his hand in a sign of peace.

"I suppose," Ichigo took the offered hand, "but if you _ever_ do anything to hurt her then you'll have to answer to me." He grinned menacingly over their joined hands "Perhaps we should spar one day, I'm sure it would be good for both of us."

"As much as I'd love to I've just been stationed in Karakura town for the next year so I'll probably be a bit unavailable. Maybe once I get back?"

"I'm looking forward to it…" Ichigo trailed off as he dropped their hands, his previously joking attitude now turned solemn and thoughtful. "How come you're only over there for a year?"

"It was all I could get out of the old man…" Toushiro sighed. "I guess I'll just have to work on him to try and get longer, I'm not missing a moment more of my kid's life than is completely necessary."

"Well what are you gonna do if you can't get it? Are you just going to leave soul society like my Dad did, would you be willing to give up everything you have here for the sake of Karin and the kid?"

"Of course. I'd give up everything I have ever owned and everything I will ever own if it meant that I could spend just five minutes more with Karin. I'd do anything just to be near her." He looked up to see Ichigo listening intently. "She's the only person I've ever felt that sort of connection with and I'm not planning on letting her go. I love her, plain and simple."

"That's all I needed to hear." Ichigo stood up, a smile on his face as he patted the smaller man on the back. "I almost forgot to say congratulations. Welcome to the family, I suppose… Though you may regret joining it once you get to know our dad…" He went to leave but turned back at the last minute. "Oh, and I will go tomorrow. After all, what kind of brother would I be if I didn't even congratulate my own sister?"

* * *

Karin was tidying the house when she heard the door open. She didn't jump at the sudden sound- she was expecting Yuzu back any time now for a weekend at home. She hadn't been back in ages and she was looking forward to seeing her twin again. Even though they were so different- both inside and out- they were still as close as they had been when they were kids.

Karin smiled as she turned around but found herself pleasantly surprised as she looked into smiling blue eyes.

"Hey, I wasn't expecting you back until tomorrow." She leaned forward to peck his lips.

"I managed to get everything sorted out quicker than I had expected," He kissed her back before sharing a tender look with her, "and I've got a bit of a surprise for you." He stepped to the side, letting her arms drop as he shifted his so that he held her around the waist. He could just about feel the bump beneath his hand and it gave him a warm fuzzy feeling which he would never admit to in front of anyone other than Karin.

Karin was staring ahead in disbelief. Standing in the doorway was the familiar outline topped with bright orange hair which she had become so accustomed to whilst growing up.

"Ichigo…?" Her question was a barely audible whisper of disbelief. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen her brother.

"Karin, I uh, I heard the news. Um, congratulations." He smiled nervously. She tried to be angry with him for not visiting in so long but she found herself unable to, the way he was stumbling over his words and the light anxious blush on his face made her giggle.

"Come here." She slipped out of Toushiro's loose hold on her and walked towards him. He caught her in a tight hug as they met in the middle and he pressed a light kiss to the top of her head. It made Ichigo chuckle slightly that even though because of the aging differences between Soul society and Earth Karin was technically physically older than him she still fit under his chin.

"I'm glad you're okay." He whispered to her.

"Me too, keep in touch next time you leave, right?"

"Right." He paused before chuckling again. "You're still a shorty." She smacked him.

"I know."

"Well then why did you hit me?" He rubbed his head where her hand had connected.

"Because I'm your little sister and that's my job." She laughed at his disbelieving expression before jabbing him in the ribs. " Now get out of the way and let Rukia in."

* * *

Yuzu had arrived not long after Ichigo had made his reappearance. She had burst into tears when she saw her brother and then burst into tears again when Karin told her their news. They soon found themselves sat around the kitchen table, each of them holding a cup of tea as they chatted comfortably.

"So, what has the big, bad fifth division captain been doing recently?" Karin asked lightly, she was interested in the workings of soul society, especially when they concerned those close to her.

"Hmm, not much; we're mostly just keeping an eye on the number of hollows around." Ichigo paused thoughtfully for a moment. "The number of hollows has gone up so much recently that the old man thought we needed an entire division focused on just that." He turned to Toushiro, "If you notice anything strange here make sure you give me a call. If anything happens here I want to be able to send reinforcements as soon as possible."

"Of course, that's what I'm here for."

"I'm just a bit nervous because it's so much like that time five years ago. If this is like that then this time will probably be even worse- more hollows and possibly even more than one high level Adjuchas like you fought last time." He sighed, "There's just too many possibilities, it's impossible to predict when they'll attack, if they even attack at all…"

Suddenly there was a beeping which resonated around the table. Ichigo fished his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. "Well, I wish we could stay longer but apparently we're needed back at the division. We left our third seat in charge whilst we were away. He's a good shinigami, just a little bit jumpy." He hugged each of his sisters goodbye before moving towards the door.

"Yeah, we'll see you another time Karin, sorry we have to rush off." Rukia smiled at the younger girl as she waved goodbye from the doorway.

"It's fine, it was great seeing you guys again." Once the door was shut she turned back to the table and snaked her hand into Toushiro's. "Thank you for bringing him. And I'm glad that he seemed to have taken the news quite well."

"Ha, he's taking it well at the moment. How do you think I got this?" He asked, pointing at the black eye which marred his face.

"Well, it was a very noble sacrifice, I'm proud of you." She kissed his wounded eye lightly before turning to Yuzu. "Do you want to help me make dinner, you know I'm not much of a cook."

"That's a lie, but I'd love to anyway." She hooked her arm through her sister's as they moved into the kitchen, taking advantage of their time together.

Toushiro just chuckled as he settled down on the couch.

* * *

It was over a month since the surprise family reunion and Karin was happily finishing up in the clinic. She'd recently started getting a lot bigger, her bump was recognizable under her shirt now as she cleaned away various sterilized instruments. She hummed to herself as she did so, the tune cheery and bouncy as she put away the last of her things.

She looked proudly over her job well done as she felt someone move up behind her. Arms wrapped around her middle and rested on the baby bump in front of her. She was glad that the bump wasn't inhibiting her movement too much so far, but she liked it being visible and she thought that Toushiro probably did too.

She thought that he probably liked having physical proof that the baby was real, for her it had felt completely real right from the start. She had been able to feel the changes in her body even when they weren't visible or obvious. But for him it had been mostly based on what she had told him.

His hands were gently massaging her shoulders now, easing away the small amount of tension which had built up throughout the day. She relaxed into his touch and closed her eyes in bliss.

The peaceful moment was ruined by the light buzzing of a phone. She heard Toushiro groan before reaching into his pocket for the small machine. Even though he had his eyes shut she could visualise the look on his face in that moment. His brow would be slightly furrowed and his lips barely pursed. And if it was a particularly bad one then he would get that little twitch under his right eye which he only got when he was stressed.

She turned her head to look at him.

Oh good, it was only a little one, that meant that she could come along too.

His first call out after he took over in Karakura town she had asked (Well, more like demanded) to go with him- more because she didn't like him being out there on his own than because she actually wanted to fight anything. She knew that would be stupid.

That didn't stop her from taking her sword though, the gentle weight of Kurohime on her hip was a welcome comfort, and she knew that it made Toushiro feel better to know she had some defence if things got out of hand.

"So? Are we off?" She asked eagerly, she'd been itching to get out of the house all day.

"Yeah, I suppose we are." He kissed her softly before letting her go again. "It's in the park."


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N **Here's the second to last chapter for you guys, hope you enjoy it :) Sorry it took so long, I had problems with my laptop which lead to me having no internet for a while _and _losing all my files :( So most of this is re-written, hopefully it just made it better *fingers crossed* So I have a quick question for you guys, do you think that I should upload the sequel and the intermission-parts to this story, or do you think I should start a whole new one? Because I'm not sure and I want to see what you think :)

Anyway, enjoy the chapter, next one soon xx

* * *

Chapter 16

* * *

Toushiro sighed as they entered the front gates of the park, "It's a shame I have to work, it's such a nice night. It would have been nice to go for a walk together."

Karin looped her arm through Toushiro's and smiled at him. "We still could. This isn't going to take long, and we _are_ already at the park."

"Hmm, I suppose so; as long as you aren't too tired after this."

"Ha, like I would be. This'll be a piece of cake!" She grinned as she spun him round to face her, "I bet you can take it down in less than three minutes!"

"Oh really? And what would you be betting?" He asked, her grin spreading infectiously to his own face.

"Oh, I don't know. How about a kiss?" She smiled coquettishly at him before continuing down their path, still not letting go of his arm.

Toushiro reached for her and placed a soft kiss on her lips, "I can do it in two."

"Well, haven't you got a big ego today?" She chuckled. "Come on, that hollow's not going to fight itself."

Toushiro laughed as he was dragged down the deserted path- it was beginning to get dark and all of the children who usually populated the stretches of grass and trees had already gone home. He was glad of that; at least he wouldn't have to keep an eye out for kids whilst he was fighting.

Toushiro pulled out his phone so that he could pinpoint the hollow; it really was a weak one, he could barely even feel it himself. It had probably only just turned. Though why he hadn't known that there was a soul so close to turning in Karakura town was unknown to him. A wave of uneasiness swept over him but he pushed it away- it was probably nothing after all, just him being over-anxious.

His eyes swept over the tiny map before him before coming to rest on the icon which marked hollow activity. "Turn left here." He directed as he slid the phone back into his pocket and attempted to turn his attention back to where they were going but his mind kept being pulled back to the nagging worry at the back of his thoughts.

"Karin…" He pulled on her arm to tell her to stop. "I've got a bad feeling about this, maybe you should wait here…"

"No chance! If you think something's going to go wrong then I'm not leaving you alone!"

"But, Karin-"

"No, I'm not an invalid Toushiro; I can still look after myself. And if something happens to you and I'm stood all the way back here then who's going to call for reinforcements?" She reached for his hand. "Trust me, okay? I won't do anything stupid."

"I know, I just don't want you to get-" His words were cut off by warm lips.

"I'll be fine, it's probably nothing anyway." She smiled at him and tugged on his hand, "Now come on."

* * *

By the time they entered the small clearing Toushiro could feel the hollow's presence clearly. As his eyes set upon it his suspicions were confirmed; it was a brand new hollow, had probably only fully changed hours ago at the most. _So why didn't I know about it?_ The thought nagged angrily in his head as he slipped out of his gigai, leaving it in Karin's care rather than using an artificial soul.

"That's the hollow? It seems a bit… dim." Karin asked incredulously as their target sat in the centre of the clearing, seemingly staring into space.

"Well, if they're going to make it easy for us then we shouldn't complain. It just means that we don't have to spend forever chasing it around the park. Now shush, we don't want it to know we're here just yet."

He quickly drew Hyōrinmaru, glad that it had yet to notice his presence so that he would have long enough to formulate a rough strategy. Although it was new and therefore had only a small amount of its potential power at its command it could still do him some damage if he was caught badly by one of its huge fists. Attacking from the back was probably his best bet, and if possible he should try to end it in one hit.

Signalling Karin to stay where she was he moved silently through the trees, always keeping one eye on the hollow and one on the ground to watch for stray twigs. He stopped once he was facing the creature's back and steadied his blade. He only had one shot at this and if he screwed up he could end up getting himself hurt.

Taking one last deep breath he rushed forwards, driving his blade downwards through the hollows skull. The creature dissolved into the air and Toushiro stood straight, his job done for the night.

* * *

Karin sighed, leaning back against a tree as she watched Toushiro stalking through the trees towards the hollow. She jumped as she heard muted buzzing from beside her and reached for Toushiro's phone which lay where it had fallen out of his pocket after he'd dropped his gigai beside her. She looked down at the screen before answering it.

"Hey Ichigo, what's up?"

"Karin? Why have you got- Where's Toushiro?" Karin could hear the slight tone of panic within the muffled voice from the speaker.

"He's just taking care of that hollow. Why, what's wrong?" Her voice was edged with concern as her mind flashed back to Toushiro's past words of warning and a feeling of foreboding dread settled over her. Her brother still hadn't answered. "Ichigo! What's happening?"

"Sorry, we were just running some tests. We detected some disturbance in that area not long ago, just before you reached the park." For a moment all Karin heard from the other end of the line was the sound of faint voices and then her brother as he picked the phone back up. "Ok, I'm going to get them out of there. Karin? Are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. What's going on? What disturbance?" She glanced towards Toushiro, checking his location. He still hadn't reached the hollow.

"There's strange hollow energy in that area, and there's no way it's coming from the one you're taking care of. We think that there may be a garganta close to opening in the area, with enough hollows to be counted as an army behind it. There's a high possibility that it's a trap, with that hollow as bait." Ichigo took a deep breath, ensuring his voice stayed calm. "As soon as Toushiro finishes off that hollow I want you both to run, don't ask questions and don't stop. Just run."

"Where to?" Karin questioned; she wasn't going to doubt her brother, he took his job seriously and anything he took seriously he did with one hundred percent of himself. If he thought this was the wrong choice then he would tell her.

"Urahara's. We're informing him of the situation now. Once you're there we'll discuss what we're going to do, but for the moment I just want the two of you out of there."

"Got it." She looked up again just in time to see Toushiro leaving the cover of the trees, Hyōrinmaru in his hand. "We'll be there soon, no more than five minutes."

"Good." There was a pause from the other end of the line. "Karin, stay safe."

"Will do." The click told her he'd hung up and she shut the phone quietly, hoping not to startle the hollow.

Glancing up she caught the final seconds of Toushiro's almost non-existent battle with the hollow. As soon as it disappeared she hurried towards him.

"Ichigo just called, we need to get out. He thinks it's a trap."

"Fine. Where are we going?" Toushiro was re-sheathing Hyōrinmaru as he made his way towards her, meeting her in the middle of the clearing.

"Urahara's, he'll call us again when we're there." He kissed her cheek and she smiled at him.

"I guess that's our walk out of the question then." He slid his hand into her and began walking quickly. "I'll leave my gigai here. We'll come back and get it once the area's secure, I'd rather make sure you're safe and I'm prepared to defend us."

* * *

They'd almost reached the gates when a loud ripping sound tore through the air. Toushiro kept his eyes focused straight ahead, refusing to look back; but Karin couldn't resist the temptation offered by the mysterious sound.

She was met with the sight of dozens of hollows flooding out of a huge, dark rip in the sky.

"We need to move faster." She snapped to Toushiro, still not taking her eyes off of the hoard. He sped up, almost reaching a run, but refusing to go full speed in case Karin fell. He was prepared to flash-step at any moment in case of an emergency- although only as a final option. He didn't know what it might do to the baby and he didn't want to risk it or Karin if it wasn't necessary.

"There's the gate." Toushiro spoke over his shoulder as Karin still dragged behind.

She looked up; there were indeed two large gate posts just poking out over the tops of the tall trees. She could barely hold in the sigh of relief as they drew closer and closer to their escape route, the posts growing taller in her vision as they drew near.

An evil howl snapped through the air. Karin felt a cold sweat break out on her forehead as her hands automatically jumped to her swollen stomach.

"Keep running. We can make it." Toushiro's urging pushed her onwards but she could feel her weakened body becoming weary, she couldn't run for much longer at this pace. She pressed herself to keep moving, but her speed had slackened to barely a jog and her legs felt worryingly weak.

As the full gate drew into her line of sight she gained the motivation she needed to push herself that final little distance. Her sudden increase in speed caught Toushiro off guard and he was suddenly the one being dragged behind, and then they were falling. He lurched to the side, attempting to stop himself from colliding with Karin as they fell.

"Oh dear, was that me?" He looked up into a white-masked face with a wolfish-grin split across it. "How clumsy." The hollow laughed; it's voice, although echoing and deep, still holding the undoubtedly female tinge it must have owned in life.

Karin sat up, groaning as she attempted to take in her surroundings. It took her a moment to notice the hollow looming over the two of them, her empty eyes now focused solely on the pregnant woman. She watched her movements as she scrambled backwards, pushing herself as far away from the monster as she could.

When Karin stood she found Toushiro beside her and a good ten foot between her and the hollow. Now that she had the chance she noted the hollow's appearance; glowing yellow shone out from the otherwise empty eye sockets of the elongated mask. Her sharpened teeth gleamed evilly as she flashed the pair a grin, the muscles in her long legs constantly flexing in preparation to pounce.

Karin winced as their foe sized them both up. Any other time she would have been proud to be standing by Toushiro's side, but the look she was receiving made her feel nervous. She could swear that those biting eyes were focused solely on her as their owner paced around the couple, coming to stand in front of the gate- blocking their only escape.

"Toushiro, what is she?" Karin's desperate whisper only just reached Toushiro's ears.

"Adjuchas, one of the strongest I've seen. She's probably the ringleader."

"Can you win?" Doubt and worry tinged her voice; she couldn't lose Toushiro like this.

"I'll do my best. As soon as you get the chance- call Ichigo, tell him what happened and that we need back up. Just look after yourself, okay?" His words were broken by the sound of cackling from in front of them.

"Don't worry, my dear. You have nothing to fear from me as long as you do not get in my way." The slight tensing of muscles was the only warning they had before the hollow moved; sudden long steps brought her to stand where the two had been up until moments ago. She turned- her focus was solely upon Toushiro as she took slow, deliberate steps towards the man.

Karin grabbed the opportunity to pull out the phone, it took her precious seconds to find the number and even longer for it to connect. By the time she got an answer the hollow had almost reached Toushiro, each step sounding like the toll of a bell to Karin.

"Karin, what's happening?" Ichigo sounded calm, but she could hear the slight panic beneath his apathetic tone after so many years of living with the man. "Your signal says you're still in the park."

"We didn't get out in time, the ringleader caught us. Toushiro's distracting her at the moment, but we need back up. She's strong, Ichigo." For one moment she allowed the walls to break, desperate for her older brother to come and save her, to protect her.

"Don't worry, someone will be there soon. I'm going to call Urahara; he should be there in a few minutes. Just hold on." The click announced the end of the conversation. Karin shut the phone; her eyes squeezed shut in silent prayer as she begged for Toushiro to still be okay.

The hollow had reached him, they exchanged blows but it seemed more like a formality to her. Toushiro had met enemies like this before, they were physically powerful but the place where they excelled most was in playing mind tricks and manipulating their foe. She was just biding her time before she struck her first real blow.

"Do you know why I want to kill you, boy?" The echoing voice hissed in his ear as he only just managed to knock aside a slash which would have otherwise gutted him.

"Because you're insane?" He answered whilst swinging his blade and causing her to jump back to avoid being cut.

"Well, that too." She laughed, narrowing her eyes at him she continued. "No, that's not why. Can you remember what happened almost five years ago, in this park? You killed a hollow here, he was important to me…" She trailed off, seemingly distracted by her memories.

Toushiro attempted to take advantage of the opening and swung his blade down at her skull, only for it to be caught in one huge paw and batted away like it was a toy. "That was rude." Her voice was flat, anger seething beneath the surface. "You killed my mate. The hollow who raised me up from the dregs and taught me to be a leader. You killed him!"

Toushiro was surprised, it was so rare to see a hollow show so much emotion. It was ironic that as a hollow grew in power, as they moved away from their humanity physically, they regained more of themselves mentally. The hollow before him must be very powerful for her to go so far as to seek revenge.

"So, now you're going to kill us? How will that help?" Toushiro asked in a fruitless attempt to persuade her.

"It will help because it will make me feel better!" The hollow snapped. "Besides, I'm not going to kill you both. Only you. I might keep the girl as a pet; maybe once she dies I'll even let her join my army. Or maybe she'll just become a snack. Who knows?" She relaxed back into her usual focused attitude and Toushiro mentally cursed; at least when she was angry he had a chance of predicting her actions, but now she was planning he couldn't even guess what she was going to do.

"Of course, either way that spawn she's carrying will have to go." As the words sunk in Toushiro worked to keep his face completely calm, hiding the anger which boiled beneath the surface. The hollow must have noticed because a devilish smirk spread across her canine face.

"Oh, I see, the whelp is yours. So that would mean-" She moved faster than Toushiro could react and before he knew it she was stood behind Karin. "That would mean that this," she dropped her hands onto Karin's shoulders, making her tense up. "Also belongs to you. Am I right?"

Toushiro refused to answer; it was as though the world had frozen around them. Karin's eyes begged him for help but his mind had gone blank. His legs wouldn't move and he could only stare as the hollow's hands slipped up to grip Karin's throat.

Karin stood in shock; it felt like something was weighing down her limbs, refusing to allow them to move. But when she felt those hands upon her throat everything snapped back into place. She ducked out of the loose grip and grasped her sword, drawing it she looked up into the slightly surprised face before a sickening laugh bit into her ears.

"Nice try, girl. It really is a shame that you picked that piece of trash. If I didn't need to kill you to teach him a lesson then you'd be the perfect little pet."

Karin sneered at the hollow "And what makes you think I want to be your pet?"

"Oh, but Dearie, you wouldn't have a choice."

"I'll never be your pet, and I have no intention of dying here." She dropped into a low defensive pose, ready for the imminent attack. "Do your worst."

The hollow let out a long, low growl and launched herself forwards on all fours. Karin managed to knock aside the first three swipes. The fourth pushed her back. The fifth caused her to stagger, knocking her off balance.

She barely regained her footing in time to parry the sixth and seventh hits. The hollow was attacking in a pure fit of rage; she couldn't keep up at this rate. She could already feel herself beginning to weaken but she kept pushing herself, she couldn't just give in like that. If she was going down then she was going down fighting.

Toushiro moved quickly but his attempts to reach Karin were thwarted time and time again as lower level hollows appeared to block his path. He cut them all down but they seemed endless, he was beginning to feel desperate when a path opened up, at the end he could see Karin. She was knocking away all of the hollow's hits but he could tell she was slowing down.

Apparently, so could the hollow. She swung a particularly heavy swipe and Karin couldn't bring her sword up fast enough. She fell, holding her shoulder as she scrambled back to her feet and attempted to put up some sort of defence.

Toushiro flash stepped to her, stopping in front of her just in time to stop a hit which would have probably knocked her out otherwise. Using the leverage of his sword he flung the hollow away from them, giving him a moment to check on Karin.

"You okay?"

"As okay as can be expected." She shrugged her shoulders and winced as pain flashed down her left arm. Toushiro looked at her sceptically. "It's nothing serious, just a scratch really. Though I don't think I can use it to fight anymore."

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of her and then we'll flash-step to Urahara's, they should already be on their way so it should be fine." He could hear the hollow approaching from behind and swung around, blocking as Karin backed away from the action. Toushiro only hoped she wasn't mobbed by hollows, she could probably handle one or two but he didn't think she could take on any more than that.

He focussed on the fight; the sooner he won, the sooner he could get Karin to safety. For now he had to contend with the hollow's mind tricks as he looked for a weakness he could take advantage of. Despite biding his time and exchanging blows with her for what must have been a god few minutes he still hadn't spotted anything. Her form was practically flawless, she wasn't slowing or weakening, and it seemed her attention couldn't be diverted.

If something distracted her then he might have a chance. But he didn't have the time to wait around for a suitable distraction; more and more hollows were emerging from the garganta as every minute ticked by. If this kept going then soon it would be too much for them to handle, even with backup from Urahara.

* * *

Karin could see the small window of a chance they had to escape closing as the number of hollows in the area increased rapidly. Even she could work out that if many more hollows arrived then they wouldn't be able to get away- even with the disarray which would be caused by their leader's death there would be too many already here for them to fight their way through. They needed to find some way of distracting the leader if they were to have any chance of stopping the hollows from rampaging.

An idea dashed through her mind but she pushed it away, refusing to take a risk like that. Her hand snaked around her stomach- cradling the small bump there as her mind ran a mile a minute. Logically she had three options; the first was impossible, she couldn't run away without help- there were too many hollows. Her mind was repelled by the thought anyway; there was no way she was going to leave Toushiro here alone.

The second option would be pointless; she would just be standing here and watching as the hollow wore Toushiro down and then turned to her. That was if the other hollows didn't take her out first.

So that left only one option- she didn't like it and she was sure that Toushiro would like it even less, but it was their only chance.

Without letting herself think any longer she threw herself forwards, determination pushing her body to its limits as she dodged the hollows which stood in her way. As she neared her target a tendril of doubt and fear pushed its way into her head and she felt herself beginning to slow. She couldn't do it. She couldn't risk her child's life. Hell, she couldn't even risk her own. She had come to an almost complete stop at this point, the fire which had been leaking through her veins just moments ago now thoroughly doused.

A tug on her hand caused her to look down. Amazed, she drew Kurohime closer to her face, observing the faint purple glow which engulfed the long blade from hilt to tip. A jolt ran up her spine, it almost felt like someone was trying to push her forwards. She resisted, cupping her arm around her swollen belly once again in a motion similar to a hug. She groaned- she didn't know what to do. Was it right for her to risk so much for such a slight chance at safety?

She felt another push, this time from her front. She looked down, surprised, and stared at the bump. It had kicked. The tiny little life form within her had kicked. She felt tears well up inside her eyes but pushed them back. She had something to do, and she knew that whatever happened after she did this she would be able to look her future child in the eyes and feel worthy of being their mum.

She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and began to run again. Kurohime hummed in her grip and she swore that she heard a voice whispering encouraging words within her mind. But her rational mind said it was impossible so she pushed the thought from her head and kept going.

She pulled her sword back, ready to strike, as she dove past Toushiro. She heard herself whisper the words "Take the chance." Before her blade sunk into the hollows shoulder and all hell broke loose. The huge hollow reached down to grab her and she felt her body struggling even as one giant hand gripped her around the throat and lifted her from the ground.

Toushiro stood stunned as he watched the life they had planned together unravel before him. Terror struck him fast, soon replaced by boiling anger as he raised Hyōrinmaru above his head, ready to release his blade despite promising himself that he would not in order to keep Karin out of the danger zone.

And then Karin's body was flying through the air and his vision was turning red. He let out a blood-curdling howl as he launched himself at the hollow, not allowing her time to psyche him out with her mind tricks. He released his fury upon her, ice-cold blade slashing continuously until the body disintegrated into the air.

Then he moved onto the hollows around him, desperate to destroy anything he could see in order to stop that terrible vision of deja vu from playing out behind his eyes. He couldn't get that moment years ago when he'd almost lost her out of his mind and he just prayed that the same hadn't happened today.

Or worse.

* * *

**A/N **please don't hate me *hides behind chair*


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N **So, this is it. The final chapter. It's been fun guys so I hope you really enjoy this final part :) I need to make this quick because I've got a flight to catch in a little bit. But I'll just ask very sweetly for reviews and such, and I shall see you in just over three weeks when I get back :D

Love you lots xx

**[EDIT] **I've re-written some of the chapter, I wasn't really happy with how it came out so I wanted to make it a little bit more like how I wanted it originally. Hopefully I've succeeded :D The changes are mostly to the last chunk, I really rushed it the first time and it didn't exactly come out well... Oh well, hopefully it's a bit better now :)

* * *

Chapter 17

* * *

_And then Karin's body was flying through the air and his vision was turning red. He let out a blood-curdling howl as he launched himself at the hollow, not allowing her time to psyche him out with her mind tricks. He released his fury upon her, ice-cold blade slashing continuously until the body disintegrated into the air._

_Then he moved onto the hollows around him, desperate to destroy anything he could see in order to stop that terrible vision of deja vu from playing out behind his eyes. He couldn't get that moment years ago when he'd almost lost her out of his mind and he just prayed that the same hadn't happened today. _

_Or worse._

* * *

Toushiro fell to his knees by Karin's side, the area around them now completely clear of Hollows after his rage-induced tirade through the park. But his anger had now subsided and had left behind a devastating nothingness which seemed to tug at his soul, desperate to drag him down into despair before his worst fears were even affirmed.

He didn't even need to look at Urahara, who had arrived during his fight with the hollows and had instantly run to Karin's side, to know what he would say. She was too still; he'd never seen such a lack of movement in the woman he loved before. She constantly moved whilst sleeping and could rarely manage to stay still whilst doing menial things like making breakfast or watching TV. Hell, even whilst she had been fighting for her life before she had moved, tiny flutters of breath in her chest or the kind of miniscule twitches in her body which had previously reassured Toushiro that she was still present in both body and soul.

Even without these tiny signs of life which Toushiro craved to see within his lovers body she seemed to be merely sleeping. He presumed that Urahara had moved her body into a more natural position after she landed as she was laid out flat on her back, arms at her sides and seemingly delicate fingers resting gently upon the grass beneath her.

He drank in her image like a man escaped from a long trek through the desert would drink deep from an oasis. Her eyes were closed, her lips slightly parted and a barely-noticeable pallor had swept over her already-pale features. He could almost pretend that she only slept.

He glanced up as he felt a hand upon his shoulder; Urahara stood beside him, his usual sarcastic and jokey persona gone as he lowered his eyes. "I know it doesn't mean much, but I'm sorry this happened…"

"No," Toushiro started, his voice weak as he spoke words he'd hoped he'd never have to utter. "No, this was her plan, she… she wanted this to happen..." He crossed his legs as he turned his attention back to the prone figure before him. "I just wish I knew why…"

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, she didn't feel any pain. It would have been very quick." Toushiro could only nod in reply; he didn't know whether he could trust his voice any longer. He felt one more pat then heard the sound of retreating footsteps, something in the back of his mind supplied that Urahara was probably going to go and help with cleaning up the few remaining hollows. The rest of him pushed the thought away; everything which was him was focused solely upon her.

His hand reached out, to him it seemed as though his body was acting on its own instincts as his fingertips barely grazed the already-cooling skin on her cheek. "Why, Karin? I don't understand why you did it…"

"Because I love you." His head snapped up as he took in the soul standing before him. Black hair framed a sad smile as she sunk down at his side. "And I can have another chance, you can't. If you had died out there that would have been it… I couldn't have gone on if I'd known that you were gone for good." She cupped his face between her hands and kissed his forehead softly. "I'm sorry, I wish there could have been another way but I guess the fates bet against us…"

Toushiro smiled at her through unshed tears as she talked, he knew it was a nervous habit, that she was scared of going on to soul society alone. He also knew that she was trying to cover up how scared she really was, to stop him from worrying. Reaching forwards he grabbed her and pulled her close to him, her body pressed close to his as they both took in what could possibly the final moments they had together.

When they pulled back from each other Toushiro smiled, wiping tears from the corners of partially transparent eyes and leaning forwards to place a chaste kiss upon her lips.

"Don't worry, I'll find you." When Karin looked at him, surprised, he smiled down at her. "I know the odds; I know how many souls there are in soul society. But I promise you, right here and right now," He pulled their faces close so he could look her straight in the eye. "I promise that I _will_ find you. Even if you can't remember me- even if you reject me. I need to know that you are happy and healthy and safe, and I'll do anything to ensure that it happens."

"Stupid." Karin giggled through the tears which swept down her face. "Like I could ever forget you, you're what made my life memorable. You gave me a family and a home, just by being by my side." She buried her face in Toushiro's chest and he smiled as he heard the mumbled "I love you" through the fabric.

"Oh, I know!" He scrambled into action, patting himself down as though trying to find something. "Damn, I think I left it with my gigai." He smiled at her as he got down on one knee "Oh well, we'll have to do without. Karin, will you marry me?"

Karin gaped at him, her eyes wide as she stared down at the man she loved promising her his future, their future, together.

"Oh my god, Toushiro! Yes, of course yes!" She jumped in his arms but he pushed her away gently, reaching down to pluck a daisy from the ground beside them before twisting it into a ring. He slid it onto her finger before laughing somewhat self-consciously.

"Sorry it's not much, I just want you to have something to remind you of me…" She smiled shyly at him as he pulled her close for another kiss.

"It's perfect. And anyway, I have something else to remind me of you." Her hand settled on her stomach and Toushiro looked at her hopefully, desperate for just one shred of good news that day.

"It's still there?"

"It's still there, I can feel it." She smiled at him and fingered the flower around her finger nervously as she continued. "Toushiro, I need to go soon. You know that."

He pulled her closer, one hand resting on her stomach as he kissed her forehead. "I know, but that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it." He grabbed Hyōrinmaru in one hand and grimaced. "Okay, let's do it."

They knelt facing one another; each of them had one hand entwined with the other's as Toushiro lifted Hyōrinmaru so that it was level with Karin's forehead. They shared one final embrace, lips meeting softly as they bid farewell for what could be the final time. As Karin drew away Toushiro pressed the base of the hilt to her forehead and felt the woman he loved disappear from within his arms.

Her final whispered words to him rung within his head.

"It's a girl."

He finally let the tears fall.

* * *

Toushiro trudged through yet another generic village square, sometime several months ago they had all begun to run into one another. The only thing which set one apart every now and then was the rumour of a dark haired girl with pale skin, living alone somewhere within the hamlet.

He sighed, he had already proved this village's potential Karin to be false and he was feeling down. Just as the temptation to turn in for the day began to creep up on him he caught sight of familiar features. The three missing stones in the side of the town well. The way the brightly-coloured stands were arranged throughout the town centre.

He allowed his instincts to take over, leading him to a plain looking house set slightly apart from the others in the area. Without hesitation he knocked, desperate for his instincts to be right this one time. He needed to see a familiar face, even if it was from so far back in his past that he could barely recall it. So much had happened since he last saw her that he didn't know where he would begin.

He sighed, there was no answer. "I'm not surprised, she was ancient the last time I saw her. She's probably dead by now." The sudden wave of sadness that hit him distracted him so he didn't notice the small figure which rounded the bend before him.

"Oof," he grunted as he walked into the small woman. "I'm so sorry; here let me help you with that." He reached for the bag she had been carrying and finally saw her face. "Granny?"

"Oh, Toushiro. It's so nice to see you, look how much bigger you've gotten." The old woman reached forward for a hug and he gladly obliged.

"Yes, it's nice to see you too. I'm sorry I haven't been to visit you recently…"

"No, no, nonsense. You've got a busy life, I understand completely." She smiled at him, before gesturing towards her house. "Come in and tell me what you've been up to. It's been so long I have no idea what's going on in your life."

* * *

"So you found yourself a girl then? I'm glad to hear it."

"Yes, well I'm kind of trying to find her again, that's sort of the problem…" He shrugged. "Granny, you wouldn't happen to have met a girl called Karin around here, have you?" He mentally begged whatever gods there were out there to grant him this one request. "She's quite small, long black hair and pale skin. She probably has a baby with her."

"Oh, Karin. Yes, she lives just down the road. In that little cabin on the outskirts of the woods." She nodded happily to herself; unaware that Toushiro had already gotten up and left, shouting his thanks back to her.

"What a nice boy." She smiled, sipping her tea happily.

* * *

Toushiro ran harder than he thought he ever had before. He refused to allow himself to slow down until the edge of the treeline came into view. He let himself drop to a jog, then finally just a fast-paced walk.

He didn't know why but he had a really good feeling about this one. Something about hearing it from someone he knew must have made it seem more reliable.

As he drew near to the tiny cottage on the edge of the trees he caught sight of an ebony wave of hair, held back by a thick band as the owner worked hard in the garden out front. Toushiro smiled, it was a good start.

As the person became clearer and clearer a voice in his head screamed at him to move faster, that it was her, that he had to get to her. Right now.

He stopped himself; he didn't want to look stupid in front of the woman if it wasn't Karin. Well he didn't want to even if it was Karin, but if it was then he didn't care. If it was then he would willingly embarrass himself in front of the entirety of Seireitei, if it just meant he could see her smile again.

And then she looked up, just a glance, and he caught sight of those oh-so-familiar eyes as they blinked down the path at him.

He was running again, his body beyond his control as he caught her in his arms and held her close.

* * *

Karin was working hard in the garden, the strawberries she'd planted earlier in the year were ready to be picked and she plucked each one from its plant and placed it carefully in the tub she'd put down on the path. She could hear someone approaching on the road, probably just that nice old woman again with some of the cookies from her latest batch.

She smiled at the thought, for some reason everything was making her smile today. "I guess it's just a good day." She mumbled with a grin before turning her head to check the identity of her guest.

She had to blink several times to ensure what she was seeing was real; white hair flared in her vision, as it had done in so many of her dreams, and she felt herself being pulled in by the deep turquoise pools set in the man's face.

_Toushiro_ some part of her subconscious supplied in a voice which she barely recognised but which still sent a warm feeling through her. _His name is Toushiro._ It felt like someone was pushing her to stand, to get a better look at the man quickly approaching her.

And then she was running; only to be caught in strong arms, held and kissed and whispered to until her brain decided to start working again. Her head was a jumbled mess which refused to sort itself into any resemblance of order, but one thought rose to the forefront of her mind out of the rubble.

"You found me."

"I found you." She smiled up at him, happy to just be near him as he grinned down at her. Memories of another lifetime bombarded her and she found herself attempting to find shelter in his arms, her face buried within the crook of his neck as her brain went into overload. Recollections of people she hadn't had any memory of for months now all came crashing back to her. The first memory of her family, locked away deep in her brain for years now darted past her. The image of her parents leaning over the side of the crib to coo at the two tiny babies within, Ichigo hanging on her dad's back as he tried to get a better look at his new sisters, made her eyes tear up slightly. But before the tears could fall it was already gone, pushed into the back of her mind where it had been before this had all happened.

Further memories- her and Yuzu playing as little kids, Ichigo teaching her how to play football at the age of five, scoring her first goal just moments later, her father's obsessive but sweet parenting style, the first time she met Toushiro…

There were too many memories for her to pay attention to them all so she just buried her face away and weathered through the storm. Once it was done she looked up, locking her eyes onto the concerned turquoise which watched her.

"You okay?" He asked, a soothing hand stroking the back of her head as she nodded an affirmative.

"Yeah, it's just a lot of memories to gain in a few minutes." She smiled at him softly, reaching up to touch the dark shadows under his eyes. "You're tired, and anyway there's someone I'd like you to meet." By the dazed look on Toushiro's face she could tell he'd forgotten in the heat of the moment, and then sudden realization flashed across his features and he clutched at her hand, his eyes desperate.

"Come on." She tugged at his hand as she lead him into the small cottage, letting go of him as she ducked into a side room, soon returning with a small blanket-wrapped bundle cradled in her hold. She stood beside him and slid the tiny thing into his arms.

He instinctively knew what to do, sliding his hand beneath the baby's head as he watched her in wonder. "She's beautiful." Tiny light-brown eyes fluttered open to look up at him as she gurgled happily in his arms.

"She likes you." Karin smiled at the wonderstruck Captain before her and pulled back the blanket where it was obscuring the top of the child's head. Tufts of silvery-white hair met his eyes as Toushiro grinned at her.

"She's so perfect, what's her name?"

Karin giggled to herself as she went to answer. "Kukiko. Ku for short." She smiled at him as he looked at her questioningly. "It means 'child of the snow'. I guess that even when I couldn't remember I never truly forgot you."

Toushiro sighed happily, reaching down to tickle the little human under the chin. To his ears the tiny giggle which followed was one of the most perfect sounds in the world, both the living and soul society. He couldn't help the grin which spread across his face as tiny brown eyes watched the man who had just silently vowed to make her life the best he physically could. If he had anything to say about it she would grow up the happiest little girl in soul society.

Karin leant in to place a kiss first upon Toushiro's cheek and then on her baby's forehead. She smiled to herself as she stroked the downy hair on top of the small head, leaning into Toushiro with one arm wrapped around his waist.

"I love you." She said softly to both Kukiko and Toushiro, wishing that this moment could last forever.

Toushiro smiled, "I love you too." In his arms Kukiko gurgled happily up at her parents, completely unaware of the events which had led to this perfect moment.


	18. Interval eternity part 1

**A/N**: Sorry for being away for so long guys, lots of stuff has been happening and I've been working on some other fics which are in varying stages of completion :)

Enjoy :D

* * *

A smile graced Karin's lips as she felt soft sunlight warmed her face, rousing her gently from sleep. The warm body at her side shifted slightly, before settling again with a mumble. Karin let her eyes flutter open before turning to her left, catching a glimpse of messy silver hair spread across the pillow beside her.

She brushed a strand away from Toushiro's face and leant to place a gentle kiss on the end of his nose; he stirred slightly but didn't wake up, she was relieved. She didn't know what time he had gotten back last night but she did know that he hadn't been getting enough sleep lately. He had a day off so she left him to rest.

They'd made the decision that they wouldn't move closer to Seireitei until they were sure that Kukiko was ready. For now they were still staying in the cottage in West Rukongai, but Karin knew that it was wearing Toushiro out to have to travel between the two every day. She'd brought up the subject of moving several times before but every time Toushiro had protested, telling her that their daughter was more important than his own comfort.

Karin moved quietly through the room, careful not to wake Toushiro as she shut their bedroom door with a slight click. She checked the room across from theirs and, sure enough, Kukiko was already up and moving about. At the moment she sat on the floor, playing with a doll Karin hadn't seen before. Toushiro must have bought it yesterday and left it out for the little girl to find.

She grinned to herself. He really was a big softy, no matter how much he denied it. Or at least where his daughter was concerned. Kukiko was the apple of her father's eye; in his mind she could do no wrong.

Karin must have made a noise because wide brown eyes turned to look at her, after a moment she was recognised and was soon catching the little three-year-old in her arms. She lifted her up and rested her on her hip before dropping a kiss onto the end of the tiny nose. "Good morning, Ku." She smiled at the little girl as she answered sweetly.

"Good morning Mummy." Karin couldn't help the little grin which slipped through as her daughter tried especially hard to enunciate her words properly. "Look what Daddy got me!" She shoved the doll into Karin's face and Karin just laughed.

"It's very nice, Sweetie. Why don't we go and get breakfast and then you can play with it outside?"

"Okay Mummy." They moved into the kitchen, Karin depositing the little girl into her seat on the way past. She put the kettle on to boil before gathering the things she needed from around the kitchen.

"Mummy?"

"Yes, Ku?" Karin asked, glancing over at the little girl as she played with her doll.

"Are we going to visit Granny today?"

"Maybe later, Sweetie. We've got lots to do today."

* * *

Karin was returning from the market with two armfuls of shopping, Kukiko trotted behind her, chewing on the lollipop Karin had bought her earlier. She opened the door and went to place the bags down on the kitchen table, only to almost be bowled over by the rampaging three year old who promptly launched herself at her Father.

"Daddy! Thank you for Dolly!" Toushiro caught her in a hug and gently ruffled her silvery hair.

"That's okay Kukiko. Just make sure you look after her, try not to lose her like the last one." Despite his reprimanding tone of voice, Karin could see the smile which had set itself on his face.

Kukiko dropped her head slightly "I promise Daddy."

"Okay, there's my good girl. Now why don't you go and play outside, it's too nice of a day to stay in here."

"Will you come and play with me later?" She looked up at him with big puppy-dog eyes, Karin had to cover her giggle- her daughter really did have Toushiro wrapped around her little finger.

"Well, I've got to talk to your mummy about something very important. But you never know… I may be able to find some time." He grinned down at her mischievously. "Or we could even be getting a visitor soon who might want to play with you." Kukiko giggled, her thoughts already turning to who the mystery visitor may be as she stood up and skipped out into the garden.

"Is there really someone coming round or were you just trying to distract her?" Karin asked sceptically, one eyebrow raised as she approached the man.

"Matsumoto said she might come round later, and Rukia mentioned trying to drag Ichigo away from this case he's focused on long enough for them to visit. So you never know." He shrugged his shoulders before darting his arms out to grab Karin around the waist. He pulled her into his lap and kissed her lightly, pulling back with a smile as he took in her dazed expression.

He chuckled, "You okay there? I don't want you too wobbly when I ask my question; I kind of want a straight answer." He smiled at her as she just started looking more and more confused. "Just… trust me, okay?" She nodded warily, not trusting her voice enough to not come out with some sarcastic comment for her to try speaking. "Okay, stay here. I'll be right back; I just need to get something."

Karin couldn't help the grin which spread across her face as she watched the man she loved eagerly jog into their bedroom, followed by the sounds of rummaging and several mumbled curses as Toushiro searched through the multitude of general junk kept in the spare chest of drawers in their bedroom. She liked seeing him like this; it was so rare to see him outwardly excited about something that she even managed to ignore the paranoid part of her mind which kept nagging at the back of her head.

After a few minutes he returned, there was no sign of the mysterious object but a grin lit his face as he knelt in front of her chair. He caught her hand in his own, before bringing it to his lips and pressing light butterfly kisses to each of her knuckles. Karin held back her snort of laughter at his uncharacteristically romantic gesture when she saw the serious expression set upon his face.

"Karin…" Toushiro voice failed him and he blushed lightly, pale pink dusting his cheekbones as he attempted to start again. "Ah-hem. Karin Kurosaki, would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?" He watched the floor as he spoke, reaching around to his back pocket to fish out the ring-box he'd stashed there. Before he could get the box in his hand lips were pressed against his; light, soft kisses were exchanged, slowly evolving into a deeper, more passionate embrace. When they pulled apart a short time later Toushiro noted that they now were both knelt on the floor facing one another as they attempted to catch their breath.

"Am I supposed to take that as a yes then?" He asked, humour lacing easily through his words as he shifted around so that his back was firmly set against the bottom of the chair before pulling Karin into his lap. He kissed her temple gently before reaching for the ring once again.

This time he reached it, pulling the small box from his pocket as Karin twisted her body so that she could see. He smiled down at her as he presented her with the open box. Karin reached her hand out to pick up the ring of metal, holding it as though it would break if too much force was placed upon it.

She held the ring between her thumb and index finger, watching the light dart off of the diamond set into the white gold. She couldn't tear her eyes away from it; the small diamond was perfectly carved so that it resembled a daisy. A string of smaller diamonds which wound around the outside of the ring like a vine was set into the metal. She looked up at Toushiro, her expression glazed.

"But, how did you-?" Her voice was cut off as he pressed a finger to her lips. She looked down at the finger disdainfully.

"If you were going to ask how I could afford it then I'll tell you exactly the same thing I tell you every time you ask that question. I've been a captain for a while now and I've never really needed to spend my money on anything. I've got a large amount of savings and now that I've got people who I'm willing to spend it on I plan on doing just that." Whilst he was talking he had removed his finger from Karin's lips, the woman took the opportunity to stick her tongue out at him.

Toushiro just kissed her cheek and chuckled, taking the ring from Karin's hand. "May I?" He asked, lifting her left hand slightly to help illustrate his question. She nodded and he slid the ring on carefully, glad that it seemed to fit. He pressed a kiss to the end of her ring finger and smiled up at her. "I love you."

"Hmm, I love you t-" Karin's words were cut off by a shout from the doorway.

"Mummy! Daddy!" The pair found their arms filled with an overexcited three year old. "Auntie Ran'ku is here!" Toushiro would never admit out loud that he actually thought the nickname his daughter had for his lieutenant was cute. Instead he went to correct the little girl, a slight smirk on his face at the knowledge that it would annoy Rangiku.

"Ku, remember you've got to call her Matsumoto." Kukiko looked up into his eyes innocently before nodding. "And do you remember the voice?" He asked with a chuckle.

"Yes Daddy." She answered with a grin before scampering towards the door. Karin couldn't stop a chuckle from escaping when she heard her three year old doing an almost perfect impersonation of her father followed by a screech and a giggle as she was scooped off of the floor and into the arms of the red-headed lieutenant.

Rangiku entered the house with a grin on her face; Kukiko was sat on her shoulders, resting her chin on the top of the vice-captain's head. "Good to see you've got her well trained, Captain. But I can't help but feel that I'm interrupting something here." Her voice was filled with humour as she took in the couple sat on the floor with a sly grin.

Karin jumped up from her seat in Toushiro's lap, her cheeks stained pink as she busied herself with putting away the previously-forgotten groceries. "Ahem, yes well…" She stumbled over her words as she tried to force the colour out of her face. "Um, Ran, do you want tea?" Her question was hasty as she tried to divert attention away from herself.

"Ah, that would be lovely Karin." She smiled at the younger woman as she moved into the kitchen. "Will lover-boy be joining us?" She asked with a smirk in Toushiro's direction.

"Well, as much as I'd like to spend time with one of my favourite and one of my least-favourite people, I promised my daughter that I'd go and play with her." He stood up from where he was still seated on the floor and moved into the kitchen to give Karin a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Love you." His voice was low enough that only she could hear it, the faux privacy and the romantic atmosphere which still hung in the air caused a shiver to run up her spine.

Before she could answer Toushiro was already out the door and she almost found herself following. She was sure she would have if she hadn't been so aware of Rangiku's eyes upon her as she quickly served the tea.

"Okay, spill. What happened?" Rangiku's sudden words surprised her and almost made her drop her cup.

"What?" Karin's mind was still glazed by the suddenness of the question and Toushiro's quick exit.

"What happened?" Rangiku spoke slowly, as though she were talking to a very young child or someone who spoke a different language, spelling out each sound individually. Karin snorted in reply to her patronising tone before becoming embarrassed.

"Oh. Well…" Karin fumbled for the words and eventually just gave in and thrust her hand across the table, giving Rangiku the perfect view of the ring which now sat comfortably on her finger.

She was swiftly dragged across the table as Rangiku pulled the ring closer to her eye for further inspection. She let out a low whistle. "Wooow, he really didn't skimp on the expenses, did he? It's gorgeous!" She chuckled, letting Karin go. "Who would have thought the captain had such good taste?"

"Yeah, who'd have thought it…?" Karin smiled uneasily at her friend, waiting for the inevitable.

"Sooo… got any ideas for the wedding yet?" And there it was. Karin couldn't hold back the giggle which bubbled up in her throat at the other woman's attempted casualness.

"Well, I was thinking of having a small service, just people we're close to; nothing too fancy." She watched Rangiku's face fall before she continued. "But I suppose I could use some help with planning it, and I guess I should probably pick a maid of honour at the very least… Hmm, what to do, what to do?" A glance over at Rangiku showed her looking optimistic, Karin turned a grin on the red-head.

"I don't suppose you'd be interested, would you?" Karin faked getting the sudden thought, stringing Rangiku along. She knew it was a bit mean, but she was having way too much fun to stop now.

Rangiku nodded enthusiastically in response before standing up to move around the table and pull Karin into a tight hug.

"I'd love to, Karin." She pulled away enough to look at the younger girl. "And congratulations, you two really deserve this, and each other. I'm happy for you." She gave her another quick hug before flying straight back into normal Rangiku mode.

"Oh! I've got to tell Yumi, he's definitely going to want in on this! Karin dear, I'll come and visit you again soon and we'll start sorting everything out. There's so much to dooo!" Her normal grin was set across her face as she bounced out of the room, leaving behind a dazed Karin who promptly sat back down and finished her tea.

Before long, Toushiro and Kukiko's play session moved inside and she had the distinct pleasure of watching her three year old daughter styling her father's hair as the captain sat and shot pleading looks at the black-haired woman. Karin couldn't help but laugh as the man got a telling off for not keeping still as the little girl attempted to tame the wild silver hair. After a while she thought that she should probably try to save her fiancé.

Fiancé… It was strange but the name really seemed to fit when she thought of Toushiro. She'd never really known what to call him. Boyfriend seemed too young, considering they lived together and had a child. And lover made their lives sound like some cheesy romance novel. Maybe this was what they had been ever since he gave her that daisy-ring just before she…

Karin shook her head, pushing the negative memories away as she moved to rescue Toushiro from their little monster. She swooped down and grabbed the little girl tickling her lightly up her sides as she squirmed in her hold, giggling uncontrollably. When she calmed down Karin pressed a light kiss to her forehead and, noting the tiny yawn which escaped her daughter, made a beeline for her room.

"Looks like it's time for a nap, Ku." Kukiko rubbed her eyes sleepily as she was settled into her bed. Tired eyes blinked up at Karin as she tucked the little girl in, smiling sweetly when she reached up for a hug. She complied, and when she pulled away Kukiko already looked half asleep. Toushiro leaned over from where he stood behind Karin and placed a kiss on the top of his daughter's head, stroking her hair as she drifted into sleep.

The couple left the room silently, closing the door as gently as possible so as not to wake the sleeping child. With a giggle Karin followed Toushiro back into the kitchen, reaching forward occasionally to pull a hair clip or a flower out of his hair. "You know, you did actually look quite cute." She had to hold back a laugh as Toushiro turned to glare at her. "Yeah, okay okay, I'll get the rest of it out." She stuck her tongue out at him as she steered him into a seat at the kitchen table so she could reach his hair easier.

She was almost done when she heard a light knocking at the door. She went to answer it, leaving Toushiro where he sat with several hair-ornaments still twisted through his silver hair.

Opening the door she was met by a cheery smile from Rukia and a scowl from Ichigo. "Well, you look as cheerful as ever." She couldn't help commenting when she saw her brother. The corner of his mouth twitched into an almost smile but she could still see tension around his eyes. "Come in, come in. We're in the kitchen."

She followed her brother and almost-sister-in-law back into the kitchen, careful to hide her hand from sight as she settled back into her task of restoring her fiancé to his former masculinity. Toushiro huffed as Ichigo sent him an amused look across the table.

"Should I even ask?" The redhead grinned at him smugly, pointing out a pink bow which was pinned just above his right ear.

Toushiro grimaced. "Please don't…" He grabbed at the bow, tugging it out along with enough of his hair to make him wince.

Karin chuckled darkly. "You're such a wuss, let me do it." She went back to her previous task of removing the ribbons and bows and other such girly things from her partner's snowy hair as said man grumbled before her. She gave him a sharp flick to the ear which gained her a glare from Toushiro and a laugh from Ichigo.

Strangely enough, Rukia didn't punish her own partner's behaviour in a similar way. Instead she stared at Karin's hand intently, as though she was trying to work something out in her head.

"Karin, is that a-?" She didn't even finish her sentence before she launched herself out of her seat and towards Karin. The younger girl flinched away, thrusting her hand in front of her as though trying to fend off a wild animal. It was quickly snatched up by the other woman who stared at it. Her expressions filtered through surprise, thoughtfulness and jealousy before finally settling on good old fashioned happiness.

She flung her arms around the taller woman in a quick hug before grinning at her happily. "I'm so happy for you! When did he-?" She didn't finish her question, looking at Karin expectantly.

"Earlier today. I'm actually still getting used to it. It feels weird, you know?" The older girl smiled at her before turning to her own partner.

"Ichigo! What kind of reaction is that when you find out that your little sister is getting married?" She glared at him accusingly in the hopes that it would earn some form of reaction from him.

Instead he just shrugged and smiled at her sweetly. "Well, I already knew so…" He trailed off, not quite sure where exactly his sentence was going.

"What do you mean 'you already knew'?"

"Well, he came to ask me permission since goat-face isn't around. So I've known for a while now." Rukia glared daggers at him. "What?"

"You've known all this time and you didn't tell me?" Her voice was quiet, dangerous, as she glared at her partner across the table. Karin could see the devilish glint in the older girl's eye and couldn't help but pity her brother somewhat; the small woman could be impressively scary when she wanted to be.

"Toushiro wanted to keep it a secret…" Ichigo supplied, earning a glare from the captain in question and a suspicious look from Rukia. "Come on, Rukia, it's not that big of a deal."

She crossed her arms, pouting as she turned her face away from him slightly. "Hmm, I suppose so…" She nudged Karin and shot her a secret grin, making sure Ichigo couldn't see. Karin couldn't help but grin back; Rukia really did have her brother wrapped around her little finger. "We should get going, Ichigo. I don't trust the others to behave themselves without someone keeping an eye on them."

"Rukia, they're a squad of highly trained soldiers, not a class of schoolchildren… And anyway, I told them not to do anything I wouldn't do. It'll be fine."

Toushiro laughed dryly. "Do you really think that's the best advice, coming from one of the rashest captains soul society has ever seen?"

Rukia looked panicked as she started to move, grabbing Ichigo's wrist and making her way towards the door. "Bye Karin, Toushiro. I expect more information on this when I have time off."

"Actually, Rukia, would it be okay for me to talk to Ichigo alone for a moment? I'll be quick." Karin sounded nervous but Rukia just offered her a knowing smile and a nod.

"Of course, take your time. I'll wait outside."

Toushiro pushed away from the table, finally having managed to pull the final stubborn bow out of his hair. "I'll go check on Ku." He offered, leaning down slightly to kiss Karin's cheek. "Love you." He murmured quietly, so that only Karin could hear. It brought a smile to her face as the other two exited the room and she was left alone with her brother.

"So… getting married, huh? Pretty big deal…" Ichigo offered her a small smile as she stood there awkwardly, unsure of what she was going to say.

"Ichigo, I've been thinking..." Her eyes refused to leave the ground- it was more comfortable to pretend she was speaking to the floor rather than her brother. "I've been thinking that, since goat-face isn't around, and there isn't anyone else who could really do the job…" She couldn't finish her sentence; it just felt so stupid to be talking like this with her big brother, especially since after his years of almost-frozen aging in Soul Society she looked older than him.

"What is it, Karin?" She met his questioning look and smiled shakily, not sure why this was upsetting her so much.

"Um, it's just, I was wondering if you would…" She could feel dampness on her cheeks as warm arms enveloped her. For a moment she stayed wrapped in the comfort which could only be given by a big brother.

"You okay?" She looked up into familiar, concerned brown eyes and felt confidence flood back into her.

"Yeah" She pushed away from him so she could look him straight in the eyes. "Ichigo, will you walk me down the aisle?" After looking away for a few moments she glanced back at her brother's face, only to have to attempt to cover a snort of laughter. Ichigo was staring at her, completely shocked. "Are you really that shocked?" She asked with a snigger.

"No, not really…" He smiled at her before pulling her close again for another hug. "It's just that I only just realised how much you've grown up. I'm so proud of you, Karin." He murmured to her before pressing a light kiss to her forehead.

When Ichigo released her Karin made a point to ignore the moisture around his eyes; she was glad when he offered her the same treatment.

He laughed awkwardly before pointing over his shoulder towards the door, "Well, I should probably get back to Rukia before she eats all your strawberries again."

"Uh, yeah. I'll see you sometime, okay?"

"Uh-huh, bye." He offered her a goofy wave which she just laughed at before watching him leave. A few seconds later she felt something pulling at her trouser leg. Looking down she saw a white patch of hair and two brown eyes staring up at her.

"Has Uncle Ichi already gone?" Karin reached down to lift the little girl onto her hip.

"Yes Ku, he's very busy today." At the sight of Kukiko's 'I'm-trying-not-to-cry-because-I'm-a-big-girl' face she smiled at her, "But he said he loves you very much and he's going to try and visit a lot more soon. So when he does he expects a big hug from you, okay?"

The little girl grinned at her and nodded. Karin grinned back at her before sitting down in her favourite armchair with her daughter in her lap for a cuddle.

After a few minutes Kukiko caught sight of something shiny and got distracted. "Mummy, what's that?" She asked quizzically whilst pointing at her newly acquired ring.

"This is a very special ring which Daddy gave to Mummy to show how much he loves her." She held her hand out so the little girl could see it clearly.

"But I don't have a ring; does that mean Daddy doesn't love me?" Karin could see tears threatening and began to flounder, looking for an answer which would placate the youngster.

From nowhere Toushiro swept in and caught their daughter up in his arms, pressing a kiss to the end of her nose he slid a ring of daisies onto her finger. "Of course you get a ring too." The two then proceeded to have a tickle-fight which Toushiro inevitably won whilst Karin looked on.

She felt her eyes sting slightly as she watched them, invoked by a mix of memories of rings, daisies and tragedy and the sight of the two people she loved most in the world, healthy, safe and blissfully happy.

* * *

**Ninjaesqe-end-of-story-A/N**:This is set to be the first part of the 'interval' between forbidden and whatever the sequel is going to be called, so keep an eye out. The second part will be uploaded under 'forbidden', but I've decided to upload the sequel under its own name. Hopefully I'll have a title for it by the time I upload the second part of eternity and I'll be able to tell you then :)

Also, sneaking this in under my one hundred themes writing challenge- 7 done, 93 left to do :P

***VERY**** IMPORTANT* I have started the sequel, it is being uploaded under the name "crossfire." I don't know whether the second part of eternity will ever be written, but for now consider it off the table. I like writing in bold because it makes me feel important! **Hee hee, I'll stop now ;)


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